Another very busy, yet productive week on the go. I have organized a small Rally at City Hall on Monday, October 17, 2016 at 5:00PM in order to raise public awareness to the issues that currently face users and drivers for Regina Transit and Paratransit services. I was shocked to learn some of the situations over the past few days, but unfortunately, it does not surprise me one bit. If you can spare a few minutes on Monday, your attendance would be greatly appreciated! You can find more information on our Facebook Event page.
Another issue that has come up in recent months is the unfair treatment of Daycare facilities in our province. Following up on some of that media coverage, and a great conversation with one of the directors, I issued the following Media Release to demonstrate my commitment to this cause.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday,
October 12, 2016
DAY CARES DESERVE FAIR AND CONSISTENT TAX
TREATMENT
Regina,
Saskatchewan – In recent years, the City of Regina has reassessed a number
of home-based not-for-profit Day Care facilities, in order to be consistent
with other day cares operated out of commercial facilities. While this succeeds
in levelling the playing field for Day Care facilities that are operated out of
homes and commercial properties, it does nothing to address the significant
cost savings that other Day Care facilities realize by operating out of the
University of Regina or the YMCA, as they are currently exempted from paying
Property Taxes. This results in a significant cost to these home and commercial
property based Day Care facilities, even though they are providing the exact
same service to consumers.
The Day Cares have recently joined forces to lobby the Provincial
Government to introduce or amend legislation to correct this situation, but in
the meantime, these not-for-profit facilities are left with significant
operating costs that could otherwise go towards improving the level of
childcare offered at their facilities. As a group, they have called upon the
City of Regina to introduce temporary tax relief until such time the
legislation is changed to accommodate their request. Unfortunately, however,
the current City Council did what they often do, and blamed the Provincial
Government for this situation. This does nothing to address this situation, and
only further aggravates an already sensitive situation.
Ward 4 Regina City Council Candidate, Chad Novak, has been
committed to fair and equitable treatment for all taxpayers over the past
number of years, as evidenced by his continued delegations at City Council.
Consistent with this approach, he feels that the City of Regina owes a duty of
care to these organizations that provide a social good to all residents of
Regina, and he is committed to pushing hard for these exemption requests if he is
successful in his bid for City Council. “City Hall has had no problems
giving tax breaks to big businesses that simply don’t need it, or other
organizations that truly can afford it in their annual budget, but these Day
Cares are having a hard time getting City Council to listen to their reasonable
requests for a level playing field.” Novak continued, “I have long advocated
for fair and equitable treatment of all taxpayers, and this is a prime example
of where improvements can be made with minimal impact to the budget.”
Once these exemptions are legislated, assuming provincial
approval, the City of Regina will be required by law to exempt all day care
facilities, so this could be considered as a voluntary expression by the City
in support of that legislation change, as well as demonstrating their support
for working parents to fully utilize the day care facilities without fear of
large cost increases.
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