Fiscal responsibility means the town must live within its means, but maximize the benefits of what we spend taxpayer money on. Long-term, we can work to increase revenues, short term we must deal with what we have. It requires input from the public to determine needs, and prioritize the expenditures being considered – what must be managed now and what can wait.
We must adhere to a reliable plan to pay down debt. These principles and policies must establish the framework for the responsible management of Cochrane’s financial resources.
The best way to keep taxes from rising is to raise the non-residential tax base by attracting more knowledge-based business to Cochrane. I support any new development plan that dedicates a portion of land to business use, to shift the tax burden away from residential. I support having clean corporate businesses and head offices come to our community and I support developing business-friendly, hi-tech infrastructure such as Dark Fibre that would attract data hubs and cloud services. We can also invest in supporting local businesses to grow, stay viable and vibrant – such as Dynastream. This increase to our tax base allows us to still provide levels of service and infrastructure we require.
