Region residents deserve tax relief

Dear Editor,

Property taxes are a consistent matter of discussion and concern to most Durham
Region residents.  Comparisons with tax levels in other communities are not flattering.
It would seem obvious that local politicians would make every effort to minimize annual increases and stabilize tax rates imposed by their local municipality and by the Regional Municipality of Durham.  However, this does not seem to be happening at the regional level.
It should interest all residents and taxpayers to know that in addition to cash-on-hand and substantial designated reserves (and a rarely used tax rate stabilization fund) the Regional Municipality of Durham has a separate investment portfolio (consisting of a variety of investments) which has risen in market value from $450 million in 2000 to $2.3 billion in 2017.  The region would claim that most or all of this money is earmarked for infrastructure replacement or creation.  Regardless, this is a huge portfolio some of which could be used to mitigate or minimize or even preclude a property tax increase for one or more years. The enormity of this rapidly increasing portfolio (it increased by $254 million from 2016 to 2017) presents an obvious opportunity, if not obligation, for regional council to provide some much needed property tax relief to over-burdened taxpayers who contributed most of this money in the form of their property taxes.
I hope this tax relief is incorporated into the region’s upcoming 2018 budget deliberations. 

Greg Milosh