Comment 50558

By realfreeenterpriser (registered) | Posted October 26, 2010 at 13:16:59

The fact is, during the Harris debacle, the people of Flamborough voted in a Town-supervised referendum, almost unanimously in an incredible turnout, to partition the Town between the County of Brant, the Township of North Dumfries and the City of Burlington all of whom were willing hosts. This bit of grassroots democracy only confirmed what everbody already knew; the parts of Hamilton that are north of the escarpment fit better into other places than they do into Hamilton. The rural parts of Ancaster (west of Highway 52/Trinity Road) would fit nicely into Brant County as well.

The reality of municipal taxation bears little resemblance to the services received; people don't pay for what THEY get but rather what EVERYBODY gets apportioned by the value of their property. It is, essentially, a wealth tax on unliquidated, and in many cases unliquidatable, wealth. As a rule, rural and suburban properties pay more for the same or lesser service. Area-rating softens the blow, but 20-30 minute emergency response times in rural areas still mean that you died of a heart attack, just at a lower cost.

This isn't to say that rural Hamiltonians shouldn't shoulder their fair share of running a city or dealing with the costs downloaded by the Province. But with property values in Hamilton so wildly disparate it seems that the increasing disconnect between what one pays versus what one receives will only fuel the desire to go where the gulf is narrower.

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