BOMBS AWAY
Golden Report Release Rips Through GTA




JORDAN H. GREEN
Regional Affairs Columnist

  Our future lies in golden hands.
  Anne Golden's task force attempting
to eliminate duplications in services
among municipalities in the Greater
Toronto Area (GTA) was released last
week amid a flury of political bombs.
  Open the hatch . . . bomb one away:
Tax Assessment and other ways to bank
roll your donut dunking drones at 
Queen's Park.
  Golden's report calls for a re-
assessment of the property tax systems
across the GTA, creating a unified 
actual value assessment. Currently we
use the market value to assess our land.
  About time, Metro's operating on tax
assessments dating back to the 1940's and 
the surrounding regions are little better
using values from their creation, nearly
25-years ago.
  Problem is, in order to bring everyone
onto equal footing, the regions will be 
gauged by a tax increase.
  KABOOM! Aren't lower property taxes the
reason many of us moved north of Steeles
Avenue in the first place?
  Direct hit! Wiped out competition in the
GTA, now Vaughan mayor Lorna Jackson's
jingles selling her city as the one
"above Toronto" won't make Toronto mayor
Barbara Hall see red.
  Ever try to get around the GTA by bus?
It can be done, if you don't mind spending
half your day in transit. Don't forget to 
bring extra bus fare, you'll have to pay
another fare once you cross the Metro
boundry and nope, the driver's don't take
VISA, MasterCard or AMEX.
  Bussing blues mean most people living 
outside Metro's borders drive. Won't they
be happy to hear that the Golden report 
calls for both a user fee for using a car
and a gas tax!
  Bomb two away: Passing the buck -- 
municipal taxes make up for our provincial
reductions.
  Premier Mike Harris promised us a common
sense tax reduction in the last election, 
but he's making up for it cutting corners.
Transferring many provincial services to
municipalities such as some roads, environ-
mental assessments, social services and 
various licenses will allow Harris to 
give us a tax break. 
  However, user fees and municipal taxes
will ensure we won't see any tax break.
  KABOOM! Garbage in leads to garbage
out, the money we save in provincial tax
will just go towards new taxes municipally.
  Ironically, municipal affairs minister
Al Leach said he'd resign if gas taxes and
user fees were in fact written into the
much debated omnibus bill of late. Now 
Leach wants to re-write sections of the
bill to save his slimy skin.
  What about the thousands of people
currently employed by the regions of
Durham, York, Halton and Peel?
  Bomb three away: Eliminate the
redundant regions and toss in an even
bigger one in their place.
  Golden's report rightly recognizes
the regions as the key offenders of
duplicating services. Every region has
a public transit officio, as do most
municipalities within these regions.
There are duplicated planning, works
and roads, fire and parks departments
as well, just to name a few.
  When the regions were created back in
the 1970s, we needed regional bodies to 
start working the land, pioneering farm-
land into the suburban jungles we have now.
  However, is replacing five regional 
governments (including Metro) with one
megaregion in the form of the Greater 
Toronto Services Board, going to solve 
anything?
  Excuse me, Ms. Golden, but isn't that
going to create a monster mess of red
tape, especially as many of the GTA mayors
don't get along?
  KABOOM! The Greater Toronto Services 
Board meetings fall into the vicious
violent cycles that we've seen recently
in Tawain's political meetings -- complete
with politicos pummeling their naysayers, 
pulling each other's hair and tossing 
around the furniture. Watch out for flying
fists and wooden chairs and that's just
during recess.
  I can't wait to go to the first meeting.
Grab your hard hat, safety goggles and a 
stick. I'll see you inside.

Covering the areas outside of Toronto, Regional
Affairs Specialist Jordan H. Green's column
appears weekly.