After an inadvertently long hiatus, Better
Know a Ward returns. For those of you who’ve forgotten, this six-part,
award-eligible series profiles a different ward in Guelph and the
councillors that represent it. Today, it’s Ward 6, the southern most ward in
the city that covers everything below Kortright Road.
Containing many of the newer parts of Guelph, Ward 6 is a
hub of activity with a near constant level of development. The two councillors
representing this Ward are Christine Billings and Karl Wettstein, and I
recently got a chance to sit down with them in Guelph City Hall.
So in the mind of these councillors, what
makes Ward 6 unique? Two words: growth and development. “We’ve got the age-old
dilemma about services,” adds Wettstein. “I think we’re really well serviced
now, but we went through a lot of years, as a ward, where there has been a
service gap for the last decade.”
It’s a matter of some confusion for constituents
as Billings points out, because many pay higher taxes as compared to the rest
of the city. “Karl and I can have the same size lot,” Billings explains.
“We can have the same size home, and I can live in the south and Karl in the
northeast, for example, and his taxes are much lower. And why is that? Market
Value Assessment.”
In other words, taxes rates times market
value assessment equals how much you pay in taxes. “Where that gets complicated
in the minds of the taxpayer,” says Wettstein, “is when you’re in a new area,
with high growth, quick development, slow to be serviced by the city and
commercial services, the public says ‘Hold it. We have the highest taxes and
the lowest services.’ There’s a mismatch.”
Another issue that’s becoming more prominent
on the Ward 6 plate is student housing. With the south Gordon corridor intensifying
and the availability of transit, this ward is attracting more and more student
tenants. “There are some streets where there’s clearly a disproportional number
of [student] houses in the minds of the residents,” Wettstein says. He and Billings have been
looking at how other communities including London are dealing
with the issue. “We said we’re going to do something significant so when the
students come to school on September the first they’re going to notice a
difference.”
The issues aside, and the occasional tedium
of the debate there of, the councillors find their jobs rewarding. “What will
happen is that you have a constituent and their frustrated. Maybe they’ve already
gone through the system and what they do is phone you and e-mail you and go
‘Help!’” explains Billings. “When there’s resolution and the constituent’s happy, the staff’s
happy, and we’re happy, what a good feeling of accomplishment when you’ve
actually helped.”
But this is an election year, and soon the
discussion will look to the next four years and the next term in council.
Wettstein has already declared saying that he likes to make his intentions
known early. His goal, if re-elected, will be to continue looking at the
business side of the city. “I have a lot of interest in the financial strength
of the city. I have a tonne of interest in good corporate governance and try
not to step in each other’s backyard too much. But I also recognize that we are
one team, we’re not two teams, and we’ve made progress in that area.”
Billings says she hasn’t made up her mind if she will run for re-election,
and will take the summer to decide whether she’ll try for her third consecutive
term. “For me it’s very serious, it is a commitment,” she notes saying that in
2003 she made up her mind on the last day nominations were open. “Because I
have a family, things change. If you win it is your term, it’s a four year
term, so it’s not something you want to do halfway.”
Still, Billings sounds
like she’s already in re-election mode saying, “At election time, a lot of
people say they are fiscally responsible, but I will have a different
definition of ‘fiscally responsible’ because I do not find that to be the case,
for me anyway.”
Wanna hear the whole interview? Beam
over to Guelph Politico at http://guelphpolitico.blogspot.com
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