Mayoral election looks like a zero-sum game
KAMLOOPS — When voters elect a mayor, how much of what he or she says can they expect to come about? How valid, in other words, are their promises?
The number “zero” came to the fore last week in two different ways — one by design, one not — as the Kamloops mayoral election got underway. The two presumptive front runners, Bill McQuarrie and Ken Christian, each declared priorities.
For McQuarrie, it was a zero percent property tax increase in 2018. According to McQuarrie, City council needs to take a breath and think seriously about money. He says a zero-percent increase doesn’t have to mean a reduction in services, but rather some tough choices about where taxes are spent, regardless of inflation and other pressures that perennially have resulted in tax hikes in the two to 2.5 percent range.
McQuarrie’s comments were quickly greeted with a reminder from some quarters that mayors don’t make the final decision on City budgets — council as a whole does that.