"Cowardice asks the question...is it safe? Expediency asks the question...is it politic? Vanity asks the question...is it popular? But conscience asks the question...is it right? And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular but one must take it because it is right." ~Dr. Martin Luther King

Sunday 17 April 2011

Make a Note Of This

It's a story in the Globe and Mail about how a woman  of seventy-three living in Toronto should plan with a few details about current circumstances.

Get this;

Assets
House $520,000; registered investments $187,300; TFSA $7,800; chequing account $7,200; insurance cash value $5,900. Total: $728,200.
Monthly disbursements
Property taxes $290; home maintenance $250; home insurance $75; health and dental insurance and expenses $225; transportation $45; heat, hydro and water $195; phone, cable, Internet $90; food $250; clothes $75; charities $10; gifts $100; books, music $50; education/hobbies $50; vacations $85; other $100; business expense $120; professional dues $25; savings $865. Total $2,900.

Pay particular attention to the value of the home. The property tax. And the cost of heat light and water. The house is a century home in Toronto.

Now would anyone else  still like to argue  that here  in Aurora ,we are getting a bargain.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Let’s hope you can get some support on that Council to ask some pointed questions about water and sewer rates on Tuesday evening , There's no way that these price increases should get rubber stamped without a bit of probing into how we are getting ripped off so badly ,$1.43 per cu.meter for a house hold + sewer of $1,12 cu,m Say it ain’t so Councilor

Stephanie said...

I’m not sure what you’re saying here, Evelyn --- that Aurora residents are getting a bargain or that they’re not?

Using 2010 values, my home would be valued at 65% less, but my property taxes were only 10% lower. Not only that, but I had access to fewer services and amenities for my dollars (i.e., lesser transit services, fewer “open” hours of public library, etc.).

Aurora doesn’t look like much of a bargain to me.

As for the cost of "heat, hydro and water", I won't take the time to do the math --- at a glance, I can see that my costs for these utilities are MUCH higher.

Anonymous said...

Toronto council has -- for years -- kept taxes unrealistically low. They're now facing massive deficits because of this.

Not to mention they're always crying poor to the province and the feds.

Anonymous said...

"Not to mention they're always crying poor to the province and the feds."

And it seems to get results..... Maybe our council should try that?

Anonymous said...

Friends in Toronto paid a pittance in taxes for years. Now they are retired, having sold their very pricey Toronto home. Meanwhile, we struggle on, working and paying ever increasing property taxes, wondering if we will ever reach the point when we can afford to retire.The more our taxe go up, the less likely it seems.