We can't afford our lifestyle – that's the
problem. It's well known – and well documented.
The solution need not mean wholesale cutbacks, but it does mean
doing things differently – and having the courage to act
going forward.
That's the message I delivered to municipal leaders at the
recent Structural Reform Workshop in Truro on April 8, 2016.
Too many of our municipalities are quickly heading to the edge
of a fiscal cliff. Our current structures can't be sustained.
Without change, citizens will suffer. Communities will witness
further decline.
The present challenge is clear.
Declining populations in many municipalities. Outmigration.
Shrinking revenues. Increasing operating costs. Ticking
infrastructure time bombs as the need for capital replacements
collide with empty bank accounts. And understandable opposition
from fewer taxpayers to more tax increases.
