Questions for councillors

The following is an open letter to Councillors Richard Whitehead and Annette Groves.

I read the article in the Oct. 17 Caledon Citizen on the proposed Solmar project and your apparent support for the development of a community southwest of Bolton.

Where are your priorities? What is your vision for the Village of Bolton and the Town of Caledon? How will new development charges and the revenue the Town will receive address the present problems Bolton faces?

When the huge increase in housing in and around Bolton occurred in the 1990s and early 2000s, did that produce sufficient revenues to the Town of Caledon to alleviate the infrastructure problems that Bolton faces now? And what will the proposed development do to provide some balance in Town property tax assessments?

Don't you know that at present, tax assessments on homes currently provide 77% of the tax revenue that the Town receives? Doesn't this mean that homeowners are actually indirectly subsidizing business and commercial interests in the town since residents are paying more than our share? Is that fair?

By supporting this proposal you are actually promising us more of the same problems!

What do you intend to do about that? And how will the proposed development affect retirees who live on a fixed income? And what about the effect on agricultural land which will be lost?

Both of you need to give your heads a shake! And weren't each of you supposed to be championing the need to protect our environment?

It seems to me and others that you have caved into business interests including developers. Why? Aren't you supposed to be looking after the community's interests?

I would suggest that you need to provide answers to these and related questions. Informed taxpayers expect our elected representatives to demonstrate honesty, integrity and accountability. These are the criteria that build and reinforce trust.

Joe Grogan

Bolton