Tax talk sounding different during this municipal election campaign under spectre of inflation

How much cities and towns across northeastern Ontario collect in taxes is once again a top issue in this municipal election campaign.

But now inflation is making the financial picture even grimmer for municipalities and prompting some to call for big changes.

"Most people are saying it's becoming unaffordable," said Chuck Durrant, one of four candidates running to be the next mayor of Temiskaming Shores. 

"They're afraid to make improvements to their homes or to their businesses, just because when they do that, it ultimately raises their tax bill," he said.

The local businessman says his solution is to attract more industry to Temiskaming Shores, and try to work with developers to build new housing to capture the growing number of people interested in moving to smaller Ontario cities in recent years.

Bruce Newton, who is seeking re-election as a town councillor in Kapuskasing, sees the financial crunch as more urgent.

"We can do two or three streets, but we should be doing four or five streets," he said.

"We have some streets that have to be done right away and we're trying to make up a priorities list and that's a costly venture."

Newton, one of 11 candidates running for six council seats, says he and his colleagues have worked hard to hold tax hikes at three per cent in recent years when it could easily be double that. 

But he worries with the cost of groceries, gasoline and everything else going up, that even a modest tax hike could force seniors out of their homes. 

"And there is no other place for the seniors to live, except for their homes and that is probably the cheapest place for them to live," said Newton, noting that rent in Kapuskasing has bumped up a few hundred dollars per month this year.

Peter Politis, a former mayor of Cochrane running to get his old job back in this election, says one of the "biggest misnomer" in municipal politics is candidates who promise to "hold the line" on taxes.

He says fixed costs like employee salaries mean a tax freeze is actually a tax decrease, not to mention the $69 million backlog of infrastructure repairs the small town is trying to work through. 

"As long as you can ensure them that money isn't being wasted," said Politis, who is in a re-match in this election against incumbent mayor Denis Clement, who ousted him by five votes in 2018.