Dan Cunin's letter is misleading at best — to state that, "The motivation for passing a zero per cent increase right before an election," is a very poor comment of what was needed at the time.
In his political ambitions and negativity, Dan seems to have conveniently forgotten that we were, at the time, in the midst of the greatest health crisis inflicted on Alberta since 1919 and the impact of solutions to that crisis meant that many Albertans suffered reduced household incomes.
Coupled with this was a generational level of unemployment in Alberta. As a result, the take-home pay of many Cochrane residents was reduced.
Under these circumstances, a zero increase in taxes was the right thing to do!! It also provided the Town of Cochrane administration an opportunity to be creative within the approved budget to achieve all the short term and long-term objectives required to support this community.
Further, Dan's letter also conveniently ignores the financial impact of future capital projects that will improve the quality of life in Cochrane, which by correct accounting practices should contribute to increased debt. Some of these recent capital projects should have been funded and executed by the Government of Albera but were delayed at the expense of the residents of Cochrane.
It is worth noting that despite council's direction, my 2021 municipal taxes did increase by over 2.5 per cent with no corresponding increase in the assessed value of my home, and I noted an increase in municipal levies against my power and gas bills.
Graham Hook, Cochrane, Ab.
