Columns: Abbotsford Taxes – The Dave Loewen Walter Neufeld Debate – Round 3

Councillor Dave Loewen and Abbotsford Today columnist Walter Neufeld have been having an ongoing debate about taxes in Abbotsford and how they compare to our neighbours throughout the region.

This is round three in the series which show no sign of ending soon.

Walter Neufeld …

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Dear Councillor Loewen,

With all due respect, it seems you still don’t appreciate the gravity of Abbotsford taxpayers’ expressed concerns. And I can’t tell from your responses whether you’ve failed to comprehend the issues or whether you’re purposefully misguiding the debate. Either way, a growing group of folks are becoming increasingly more concerned about the intransigence of your apparent spurious rationale.

At issue is the comparison of the property tax rate of a house valued at $377.482.00 in Abbotsford to the property tax rates in neighbouring municipalities with houses of the same (similar) value.

The only relevant factor to this discussion is the tax rate levied against Abbotsford homes. When an Abbotsford home is compared to a home of equal monetary value in neighbouring municipalities, Abbotsford’s taxation rate is shown to be one of the highest in the Lower Mainland. Period.

Property taxes have nothing to do with individuals or population, as you claim, so “tax burden’ per capita is irrelevant and misleads this discussion.

Taxes are levied as a function of mill rate and home value, not population. Your claim to the contrary is seen for what it is and many of taxpayers prefer to see you find a way to climb off that fragile perch.

I challenge you to find any Abbotsford Councillors willing to go on record in support of the relevancy of your unique perspective regarding the “tax burden” vs “mill rate.”

Finally, I note that your letters continue to ignore answering the underlying issues Abbotsford’s taxpayers have been trying to draw to the City’s attention.

Many concerned Abbotsford residents have also noticed, and wonder why?

I anticipate your relevant response.

Sincerely,
Walter Neufeld

Councillor Dave Loewen …

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On Sat, Jan 26, 2013 at 12:02 PM, Dave Loewen (Councillor) wrote:
I just checked again and note that West Vanvouver’s tax rate is approx. 1.8; therefore the Abbotsford house in question should pay approx. $680.00

Sent from my iPad

Councillor Dave Loewen …

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On Sat, Jan 26, 2013 at 11:36 AM, Dave Loewen (Councillor) wrote:
Walter,

The debate was only settled in your mind! As long as you insist on using tax rates to base your arguments on, it would only be fair to reference the whole table and use both ends of the spectrum.

So taking West Vancouver and Granisle and applying their respective tax rates to the typical Abbotsford property, an interesting contrast results –

If the Granisle tax rate of 24.846 is applied to the same house in Abbotsford, how much property tax would the Abbotsford owner have to play? $9379.00

The West Vancouver tax rate would result in a property tax of only a few dollars for that same house in Abbotsford. I believe less than $2.00!

As I’ve said before, using tax rates for the purpose of comparison is really meaningless. “Tax Burden” by virtue of the title provides a meaningful comparison.

Dave

Sent from my iPad

Walter Neufeld …

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On 2013-01-25, at 9:10 PM, “walter neufeld” wrote:
Dear Councillor Loewen,

Based on the Provincial data, I thought we had unequivocally confirmed that Abbotsford residents pay one of the highest property tax rates in the Lower Mainland and thereby settled the debate?

Let’s try a different approach then to see what happens:

1. How much property tax would a home owner of a $377.482.00 house have to pay in West Vancouver, according to respected Don Cayo?

2. Alternatively, if the West Vancouver tax rate for a $1,443,075.00 (.0049277) is applied to a $377,482.00 house in Abbotsford, how much property tax would the Abbotsford home owner have to pay?

Sincerely,

Walter Neufeld

Councillor Dave Loewen …

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On Fri, Jan 25, 2013 at 5:54 PM, Dave Loewen (Councillor) wrote:
Walter,

This information provided by respected columnist Don Cayo of the Vancouver Sun appears to be at variance with your perspective on the matter of property taxes. Even though it’s based on 2010, it would be highly improbable to have changed to the degree you have been suggesting.

http://www.vancouversun.com/news/property-taxes.html

Dave

Sent from my iPad

On 2013-01-25, at 5:20 PM, “walter neufeld” wrote:

Walter Neufeld

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Dear City of Abbotsford residents,
This past Monday, local buinessman Fred Thiessen presented Abbotsford’s City Council with sound reasons for not wasting taxpayers’ money on YMCA’s high-end construction plans.

His points were precise and based on factual information available to anyone who cared enough to look (please see web link for a power point summary: the case against the YMCA proposal).

Significantly, the Provincial Government’s property tax data proves Abbotsford residents pay some of the highest property taxes when compared to the City’s substantial neighbouring Lower Mainland municipalities (see partial chart below, or, see web link: bc-tax-rates).

Taken together, the presented facts strongly suggest that the YMCA expenditure is an ill-conceived and inappropriate plan. But some glassy-eyed councilors appeared more interested in preserving the “integrity” of the process that had delivered the flawed “proposal” to their doorstep than they were interested in the facts being presented.

When YMCA’s spokesperson took to the podium to make dubious claims about crime reduction and claims about its enhanced child rearing capacity, those councillors listened attentively with necks craned. That left many folks in the audience with the distinct impression that some of the councillors were intent on supporting the tax gift to YMCA regardless of costs and in-spite of compelling facts warning against such irresponsible spending.

The hot air in that room made my head feel thick and tired. A chilled darkness settled in outside.

A few days later, Abby News informed a community made nervous from too many costly fictions, that its former City’s manager would receive a severance package in excess of $300,000.00. Mayor Banman explained that while he, ‘…doesn’t like having to pay severance…’ it was, ‘… the “price of doing business.”

He tried calming frayed nerves by assuring, “It’s standard procedure in these types of jobs for there to be a severance package. They are high-risk jobs.” (see, “Former Abbotsford city manager paid out more than $300,000”; web link: http://www.abbynews.com/news/188127211.html)

Is it? Really? My head began to hurt. *

So many question and so few answers.

Which business sector negotiates such job exit strategies for its departing employees?

Abbotsford taxpayers are left wondering whether the severance package was performance based? If it not, why not? Alternatively, if it was, what would it have cost us if he had done an excellent job?

Did the same people who negotiated the ownership of the “Heat’s” liabilities also negotiate this agreement?

Which City negotiators decided that the taxpayer should be responsible for such liabilities and that that practice would become “standard procedure”? Are they still working of the City?

I could go on for a long time but believe a critical question has been brought to a boil:

Are the people who vet, approve and establish these contractual agreements as “normative” the same folks who negotiated with the YMCA?

Inquiring taxpayers would like to know.

Sincerely.

Walter Neufeld

*In fairness to Mayor Banman, he didn’t negotiate the severance package so I wondered why he bothered defending it at all?

Councillor Dave Loewen

David Loewen is a three term Councillor with the City of Abbotsford.

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Walter Neufeld

*Walter Neufeld was born and raised in Abbotsford. He manages a development company operating in BC and in Alberta. Walter has been a critic of the provincial government’s dysfunctional Mines Act for about 12 years. Neufeld is the president of the Fraser Valley Regional District Citizens Association (FVRDCA). Most recently, he’s critiqued both Honourable Randy Hawes and the gravel industries Aggregate Pilot Project which he believes to be a harmful private production document which Hawes is currently trying to offload onto BC’s public domain.