LETTER: Council should start looking for ways to boost revenue

SooToday.com received this letter from a reader who wants city council to start coming up with ways to increase revenue rather than just cut services.

Now that the "cutting and slashing" is done and the "acceptable" tax increase is set, the city budget melodrama can be put to rest for another year.

I would suggest that council start planning for the next budget now by looking at the revenue side of the the equation.

Here are three suggestions for increasing revenues:

- Currently the local school boards spend $15.8M on yellow buses. The city also spends another $7.9M on public transit.

The school boards could/should buy their services from the city, at least for the high school students. We could bring in at least a million dollars in new revenue at no new cost to the taxpayer. This would also help to create a new generation of transit riders,

- Secondly, there is no such thing as “free” parking. Paved parking spaces are expensive to build and maintain and they contribute to water pollution and global warming.

It is interesting to note that the city finances sewage services (which most would consider an essential service) through a “user-pay” system via your utility bill. Why do we not charge for city parking? Our hospital already recognizes the problem. All publicly-maintained lots could/should be metered and all commercial lots over a certain capacity should be taxed per space to level the playing field.

- Thirdly, our city landfill has a gas collection system which generates the equivalent of 750kW of methane (powerful GHG)! This gas is not being used; it is simply "flared" (releasing CO2). It could be sold or used to generate electricity.

These suggestions will generate new revenue and help us achieve our green house gas reduction targets.

Peter McLarty, Sault Ste. Marie