Sewage Spill Fines - A Better Resolution

Politicians do come up with more and interesting ways to take our money. If you're in Ottawa you know about this sewage spill, and that the city may face substantial fines. Keep in mind that the city's money is our money, raised through property and other taxes.

If the province successfully fines the city we end up paying three times over:

• A fine of several million will have to be recovered in taxes, probably property taxes, since that is a significant hit to a budget where every 0.1% change makes the headlines. Any legal costs incurred in first fighting the fines only add to the bill.
• Don't expect that our tax dollars that are collected by the province by means of fines to the city will be returned to us through income tax reductions or new infrastructure grants to the city. It goes into general revenue to help balance provincial accounts, and the provincial government will crow about being that many million dollars closer to break even.
  
• We need to spend tax dollars on infrastructure to prevent future spill occurrences, and avoid more fines and court cases.
  

None of this should please us; no matter the outcome you and I foot the bill. And remember that it doesn't matter which level of government pays what since there is just the one body of taxpayers.

If all our governments want to demonstrate how effectively they spend our money there are better ways than these tedious and expensive process where we lose and only one of them wins. Settle this quickly and without recourse to the courts. Assess a substantial fine, which the province should then pledge in full as a grant to the city to make the necessary improvements in our sewer system, which the city already indicates will be a priority in the 2009 budget.

This way every level of government can boast about a win, taxpayers get the best value for their money, and we can proceed to protect the environment sooner and most economically.