Dear Editor:
RE: The 2019 Wellington North budget.
The budget states township ratepayers will be hit by a 3.3% increase to the existing taxbase. Fair enough, however, various property classes will see different increases: family home 2.3%, farm house 7.3% and farmland 15%.
Excuse me, the farm house is the farm family home, so why is it rated three times the town family home? Farmland also has a whopping 15% increase.
Why do farmers have to carry the heaviest burden of the increase? After all, the farmers feed the towns people, so why do the farmers get punished for feeding the population? People see all this farmland as an easy target, think of infrastructure and town expansions.
When I bought my farm 40 years ago, my yearly property taxes were a bit over $800; now they are over $5000. How can we continue paying ever-increasing taxes?
I am disappointed in Andy Lennox and Steven McCabe as well. I thought these farm boys would speak up for farmers – guess not.
Nick Ammerlaan,
Kenilworth