Using Tax Revenues Wisely
A budget is much more than a shopping list with a spending limit attached. It is a statement of a corporation's priorities, and a tool by which the corporation can meet those priorities.
A municipal budget that devotes a third of its tax revenues to policing costs, and less than a tenth to social services, is not only demonstrating the wrong priorities, it's also missing an opportunity to use its financial tools to maximum, long-lasting effect.
We want Waterloo Region to be a vibrant and inclusive community, and the way that we can build such a community is by investing in services that enhance health and belonging, such as public transit, social services, community housing, green bins and recycling, planning, libraries and museums, and public health. The more of our attention, energies and resources we put up front into such proactive and preventative programs, the less we'll need to spend, down the road, on expensive, reactive programs like policing, emergency medical services, roads, and garbage collection and disposal.
A municipal budget that devotes a third of its tax revenues to policing costs, and less than a tenth to social services, is not only demonstrating the wrong priorities, it's also missing an opportunity to use its financial tools to maximum, long-lasting effect.
We want Waterloo Region to be a vibrant and inclusive community, and the way that we can build such a community is by investing in services that enhance health and belonging, such as public transit, social services, community housing, green bins and recycling, planning, libraries and museums, and public health. The more of our attention, energies and resources we put up front into such proactive and preventative programs, the less we'll need to spend, down the road, on expensive, reactive programs like policing, emergency medical services, roads, and garbage collection and disposal.