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Rural Areas to be taxed for operating Park and Ride Lots.

City Staff have just completed a report that will go to the Transit Committee on Wednesday, March 19th, recommending rural areas be taxed for a portion of the cost of operating the City Park and Ride Lots.

Here is the section of the Report:

"The rural area will be paying for a portion of the operating costs and services provided at the Park & Rides based on their surveyed usage of these facilities and services."

However:

1. There has been no consultation in the Rural Wards.
2. There has been no discussion at the Rural Issues Advisory Committee.
3. There has been no discussion at the Agricultural and Rural Affairs Committee.
4. The financial calculations outlined in the Report are truly inaccurate.

This is one of the most flagrant violations of trust between City Staff and Rural Residents in years. Rural residents in West Carleton, Rideau-Goulbourn, Rural Cumberland and Osgoode Ward could be charged $100+ per household, for Park and Ride Costs that perhaps only a very few ever use.

I urge everyone to contact Transit Committee Co-ordinator, Anne-Marie Leung, and Rural Affairs Director, Derrick Moodie, commenting on whether you wish to pay, perhaps $100 extra on top of the 4.9% Tax increase, to help support the Park and Ride Lots. I have provided the following web form which you can use for this purpose, and I ask that you take a few minutes and let your views be known. Please also forward this note on to your friends and neighbours.

Thank you,
Doug Thompson

Web form can be found at: www.dougthompson.ca/park_ride.php

Update:  Courtesy of the - West Manotick Community Association:

The Village Speaks #41– March 19/08

You told the City that you do not want to be taxed for park-and-ride lots!
Here is the response from Derrick Moodie,
Rural Affairs Officer:

The report you were referring to [recommending a tax levy on rural residents to pay for park and ride lots] has been withdrawn by Nancy Schepers, Deputy City Manager for Planning Transit and the Environment, and will not be considered by Transit Committee tomorrow afternoon or Council at this time. I received a lot of emails from people concerned about the way that this report came forward and the information within it and all of your concerns will be noted. Before this issue comes back for consideration, there will be adequate public consultation, adequate information to support the recommendations, and further examination of the numbers within the report.

Many of your emails also provided comments on your feelings about the City in general or about the level of service you receive from your municipal government. If you are interested in having some further input into service levels, and areas we can improve, please consider registering for Rural Summit II ~ Building on Success. We have seen a number of improvements to rural services since the first summit. Rural Summit II will provide a chance to move beyond making complaints to having a say on what service levels should be for your community. You can register online, through calling 311 or visiting any client service centre. For more information or to register please click on this link: http://www.ottawa.ca/residents/rural_connections/rural_summit_02/registration_en.html  

I would also like to add your contact information to the database we maintain in the rural affairs office. We do send out information from time to time on subjects that are relevant to rural residents. If you do not want to be on our list, you can ask to be taken off the list at any time. You can also find rural related information on our rural connections website at www.ottawa.ca/rural <http://www.ottawa.ca/rural>  

Derrick Moodie

 
Derrick Moodie
Rural Affairs Officer
City Managers Office
City of Ottawa
(613)580-2424 ext 15134
derrick.moodie@ottawa.ca