Editor:
Re: New Westminster approves hikes to utilities for 2019, Record online, Nov. 21
With property taxes increasing at an alarming rate for last year, the headlines in the news this week of how utilities in New Westminster will be rising seven per cent to each of the water and sewer utilities (with similar increases projected annually until 2023) and a 12-per-cent hike to the solid waste utility (with another 12-per-cent increase projected in 2020 and eight-per-cent increases forecast in years 2021 to 2023) are very frustrating.
Coincidentally, the article underneath this one has the headline "Big problem for B.C., one in five children growing up in poverty." It isn't just the kids who are affected, it is all of us who don't receive pay increases that keep up with inflation or those who have fixed incomes.
I realize the council sees New Westminster as a "business," but don't forget, real people live in this city. We are not just numbers on a spreadsheet who supply them with unlimited funds. I urge council to consider this.
Mary Ivens, New Westminster
