Taxes and more on the mind of new chamber president
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 05/02/2024 (591 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
The Brandon Chamber of Commerce has expressed deep concern about the current economic landscape of the municipal government.
City council needs to depart from its past approach to tax increases to navigate through the uncertain times, the chamber’s new president Lois Ruston told the Sun last week.
“We are demanding transparency and long-term planning from our municipal government and expect officials to work closely with the city executive to make the very best decisions for our community,” she said. “With regards to affordability, our community is in the unenviable position of being in a perfect storm of tax and rate increases. The time has come to introduce planned property tax increases to keep pace with inflation.”
New Brandon Chamber of Commerce president Lois Ruston says the City of Brandon must step outside of the box and look for ways to enhance revenue, maintain services and create reasonable rate and tax increases so the businesses can plan for additional expenses. (File)
However, she said, those increases, combined with rate hikes (such as our water utility) and development charge increases place undue hardship on chamber members, adding the City of Brandon must step outside of the box and look for ways to enhance revenue, maintain current services and create reasonable rate and tax increases that allow our business community to plan how they will incorporate these additional expenses into their business models.
“The chamber is working with partners such as the Construction Association of Manitoba to ensure that we have consistent messaging and are holding the city accountable in all of these decisions, sharing the ways that these increases will impact our business community and citizens at large,” she said. “We will continue to work hard to be our business community’s voice, and the meetings and budget submissions outlined above are excellent examples of our advocacy work in this regard.”
On future initiatives as the new president, Ruston expressed her enthusiasm for the growth of the Leadership Brandon program, noting in partnership with Westman Immigrant Services, this program aims to develop leaders within the region, aligning with Ruston’s passion for leadership development.
“I’m very excited about some of the ways that Brandon is being recognized on the provincial stage,” she said. “Our general manager Connor Ketchen’s appointment to the Premier’s Business and Jobs Council is an excellent opportunity to represent Brandon provincially.”
In addition, the Manitoba Chamber of Commerce will be hosting some of its events in Brandon in the coming months, and she said the opportunity to host Chamber counterparts from around Manitoba is welcome.
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