02-12-2015, 05:32 PM
(02-11-2015, 04:46 PM)numberguy Wrote: I suspect that the Regional Council needed this exempt the townships from ION/LRT because of two reasons:
a) the precedent was there, GRT is area rated (they are exempt)
b) they needed the votes: Cambridge Mayor Craig was voting against it. If the township reps on the Council voted against it, it might not have been passed
http://www.regionofwaterloo.ca/en/resour...ok_pdf.pdf
Page 164/267 page PDF
Confirmed, GRT is area rated. Cambridge, Kitchener, Waterloo households will pay $235 for base GRT service, Woolwich households pays $39 for Elmira bus service, no GRT service or levy for the other Townships.
RTMP reserve fund (how the Region will fund some of its portion of ION capital costs, I think) is levied on KW and Cambridge only, $114 budgeted per household in 2015.
If the Region had built the LRT into a comprehensive transit plan that would include the Townships sooner rather than later, then they would have had no difficulty in getting the Township Mayors to vote for a plan that included Region of Waterloo taxpayer contributing. Instead they bought off the Township Mayors by letting them feel good about voting for this project without having to charge the cost to their constituents.
Hopefully future politicians will have the courage to remove area rated service fees.