Well Written Editorial

I like policy related editorials not tabloid news stuff. This is actually a good editorial.

Satisfying statement

Published on April 1, 2011
Topics :
Credit Union Place.That , Summerside , Water Street , Canada
It wasn’t the kind of budget you would expect to see during some tough economic times. The City of Summerside released its 2011 budget earlier this week, which was full of good news.
Rather than a set of austerity measures and belt-tightening, this council delivered a balanced budget, with a reduction of the commercial tax rate and holding the line on user fees, non-commercial property tax rates and water and sewer charges.
Council also made good on the mayor’s promise to drop electric rates as well as finish some infrastructure projects like Water Street revitalization and the BMX park.
You know a council is happy with its budget when the deputy mayor leads off his address with a quote from the 1980s TV show “The A-Team.”
“I love it when a plan comes together,” Bruce MacDougall said. “That says it all when we look at what was accomplished last year, especially the successful operations at our new wind farm.”
It’s that wind farm power that helped the city generate the means to present such a favourable budget.
In the wake of a national magazine story that listed Summerside at near the bottom of a list of the best places to live in Canada, the budget provides good fodder for rebuttal.
It’s one thing to argue Summerside’s merits based on emotion, but it’s another to be able to show the books aren’t only balanced, but include incentives for business.
The city also set aside funds to commission studies, two of which could help future budgets. A consultant will work with residents to plot a path for Summerside’s economic future and another study will look at how losses can be mitigated at Credit Union Place.
That said, the city’s debt load is still a concern. Hopefully this budget will lay a path to increased prosperity and thereby an enhanced ability to tackle the debt.
To borrow from Colonel Hannibal Smith again, that’s another plan we’d like to see come together