Our greatest assets in Ajax are our residents!

Thanks to all residents who fed me goodies this weekend. Your generosity was much appreciated. The curried goat, roti, pre-thanksgiving turkey, fresh brownies and hot tea were awesome. I door knocked about 1500 houses this weekend and that helped to walk off the calories.

But the content of today’s blog is also about hardship. Canvassing this weekend brought home the hard, cold realities of this enduring recession. Two homeowners I met Sunday - both had lost their jobs. They have little choice but to sell up and leave Ajax.

And along the way, I met a woman who told me point blank, she simply couldn’t afford the taxes on her property where the market value of her home had declined, but her tax bill had advanced by $2400 over the last four years.

Our greatest assets in Ajax are our residents! Residents have less money left in their pockets every week to support and feed their families. Although things look rosy on the outside of the street, inside our homes, our residents and having tougher times these days! Given the impending crush of a prolonged economic downtown, perhaps Town Council may need to reconsider its spending plans over the next four years.

I said Sunday that Ajax has been spending money like there is no recession. Perhaps its time we had a long, hard look at targeting a zero percent tax increase and at the same time, take a much more detailed discovery of where to find savings and trim fat where it exists without trimming necessary services.

The ‘red tape’ at the Town is securely in place and it costs us dearly every year – maybe, there’s a little too much red tape? Maybe, there are a few things we can do without?