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No-frills tax bills Kingston bills produced in-house We all recall the multi-page booklet which was our tax bill from the City last year. Somewhat reminiscent of the National Geographic it was, so colourful in the proud homeowner's hands. Darned expensive to print too. City staff professes restraint this year, but the City will still outsource the printing of the bills to a firm in Markham for a cost of $27,000. The Eye Opener is indebted to a reader who has sent us a copy of a tax bill from a property she owns in Kingston, Ont. We have no idea how much that municipality has paid to print their valentines to the ratepayers but we expect that it is less per bill than CoKL. It appears that they do the job in-house. Colour: none. Fancy logos: none. Just two pieces of paper, one foolscap size and one 8.5x11. All the necessary information is there with none of the frills. We also seem to recall that our City purchased an (expensive) paper folding machine to accomplish exactly what the City of Kingston has done themselves. The staff report does not even contemplate having the tax bills prepared and delivered by our own tax department. The only question was which outside private company would get the contract. City staff will tell us that the extra cost for the fancy colour is mere peanuts. This misses the point. Peanuts or not, the City should be seen to be trying to economize wherever possible. Instead, they fluff off the small items as part of the price of being a big city. It is that attitude which causes our taxes to go up instead of down.‡ Reprinted from The Red Rock Eye Opener |