Mayoral candidate Tascona pledges to axe tax hikes

By MARG. BRUINEMAN BARRIE EXAMINER Sept 23 2010
First, no tax increases. Second, clean up the downtown.
In his run for mayor, Joe Tascona produces planks to a platform he suggests has set the tone for the municipal election in Barrie. “I have the experience … to lead the council in the direction it should be going,” he said. “We need to deal with our tax situation.
“The city’s got too much excess spending. We have to give the taxpayers a sense of fiscal responsibility.”
The past decade has produced a combined 46% increase in residential taxation in the city, he said. And Tascona, a labour lawyer and former Conservative MPP ousted in the last provincial election by Liberal Aileen Carroll, says he knows how to save some money: stop spending it on consulting fees.
Tascona’s approach at budget time would be to focus on what he says are the core services: sewer work, water, police and fire in an attempt to develop a budget with no increases.
But, he adds in his Worsley Street law office overlooking city hall which has been converted into his campaign headquarters, the goal is also to grow the economy. He says there’s a pent-up demand for development in Barrie, but builders are turned off by development charges and end up building in other communities.
Tascona says he’s running on his record as a city council member from 1991 to 1995 when there were no tax increases.
“We worked together as a council,” he said. “I have the experience.
“That experience will come in handy.”
Tascona’s second objective is to clean up the downtown.
He says people don’t feel safe going downtown. Although it’s not a feeling Tascona shares — he’s had several offices in the core and he lives in the east-end considered part of the core.
“I love the downtown, I feel safe,” he said. “The reality is that they’re not coming downtown.”
He refers to a story he heard about a prostitute approaching a 17-year-old boy and problems involving drugs. It’s those kind of stories which dissuades people from frequenting the core and it harms the businesses that have set up shop there.
Tascona said there has to be a multi-pronged approach to helping people feel safe when they’re in the core. That includes increased police presence and enforcement.
He also wants to see the number of bars limited and he wants standards placed and enforced on rooming houses.
“I certainly don’t want to see any new bars downtown,” he said. “If it means bars closing, rooming houses, strip bars close, so be it.”
The city is already in the throes of dealing with this issue and has requested the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario to increase its enforcement of Barrie bars. The city is also exploring establishing a liquor licence review committee in Barrie, similar to one developed in Kitchener.
In his campaign, Tascona is also addressing growth in the city. Barrie, with little land left on which to build, has adopted an intensification approach to development. It also has new land acquired from Innisfil this year.
Tascona says future development has to be planned and the priority of the newly annexed land should accommodate economic growth.
After years of lobbying, the city acquired 5,644 acres from its southern neighbours Jan. 1. That includes close to 200 homes and farms on mostly rural and agricultural land. The expansion is intended to allow further industrial and residential growth.
While serving as MPP at Queen’s Park, Tascona maintained his law practice in Barrie. As mayor, he said he would see what the situation calls for and he has brought in someone to help at his practice.
“There will be other lawyers here,” he said. “What kind of law I’m going to practise will be determined.”
Tascona is a Barrie native. He earned his Masters of Business Administration from McMaster University and worked as a production manager for Ford for four years before returning to school, obtaining a law degree from Queen’s University.
Tascona, the father of four children aged 12 to 19, returned to Barrie in 1991 and was elected to Barrie council that year. He was re-elected in 1994 by acclamation but left council the following year to become the area’s MPP, a position he held for 12 years.
He prides himself on several initiatives while on council, which includes the purchase of waterfront land from the Southshore Centre to Minet’s Point.