To The Editor,
Champlain has a new council and mayor — all of whom I am sure have or had good intentions heading into the duties and maintenance of administrating Champlain stakeholders’ money.
What we see is a repetition of the same scenario or tactics regarding budgets. Let fly a proposal of a major increase in expenses, little if any new income, (not by increasing existent tax base) yielding an increase of 12.66% then come back with half the increase — say 6%.
It is almost as if it was a script to follow — which gets passed down year after year.
It may not be individual council members’ intentions to do so but it is still an increase, is it not?
What about economic development to gain access to new incomes for Champlain?
What amazes me is the rapid negative reactions from Champlain residents to any large or small potential for economic development. Yes – even the small projects get objected to. Is it a fear of changes or simply the desire to leave things as they are?
The lack of economic development is leading Champlain down a slippery slope that will only gain momentum with negative results. This mentality is too often seen when a new project or improvement to an existing business is proposed that may have a positive effect economically, and create, God forbid, new employment opportunities.
Are the individual elected councillors responsible for these reactions? Not totally. The residents of each community that makes up Champlain with these “against to be against” – many not sure why – groups must stop this, particularly with small and medium projects.
Push for positive economic development and try not to kill a project before any real information about it is known.
Richard Charest,
Vankleek Hill
