约克区政府解决交通堵塞的办法缺乏政治远见和智慧

消费者价格指数（CPI）是反应经济各方面的一个标志。人们总是把自己的工资增长与消费者价格指数挂钩。消费者价格指数实际上是“通货膨胀率”，当然有时也是“通缩率”。与此同时，我们还预计我们的税率，公寓维护费以及水电气的费用也会随着消费者价格指数起伏。

The annual Consumer Price Index (CPI) is a marker that affects every aspects of the economy. People have expectations on their annual salary increases tied to the CPI. It is in effect the “inflation rate” and on just a few occasions, the “deflation rate”. At the same time, we also expect increases in our taxes, our condominium maintenance fee, and our utilities to follow closely to that of the CPI as well.



约克区政府的预算已经在3月份出炉。整个预算增长了2.96%。道路项目另增1%的费用。因此今年约克区的总开支增长了3.96%，相比之下，2018年的消费者价格指数仅为2.3%。

The York Region budget came out in March, resulting in an increase of 2.96 percent. An additional one percent is charged for road projects, bringing the total to 3.96 percent this year while the 2018 CPI was only 2.3 percent.

我必须提醒读者，万锦居民的地税中有一半将上缴约克区政府。而省府正在研究约克区下的一些城镇是否要合并。约克区政府的累计欠债近30亿，而区年度预算只有20亿。

I have to refresh everyone's memories that residents in Markham pay about half of their property taxes to the York Region which is currently under a provincial review for amalgamation of its municipalities. York Region carries an accumulated debt of close to $3 billion and a yearly budget of $2 billion.



该预算在二月的区议会里辩论激烈。来自万锦市的区议员哈密尔顿和李国贤都反对这一增长率，称这一预算让纳税人的负担加重，希望区政府想办法节省开支。他们表示不会对该预算投赞成票。

During a heated debate in February, Regional Councillors Don Hamilton and Joe Li from Markham both opposed the increase and criticized the burden being put on taxpayers. They wanted staff to take another crack at finding additional savings and indicated they would vote against the budget.

而其他区议员表示，在没有建设性的意见下拒绝通过该预算是不负责任的。李国贤对这些区议员“特别反感”，反驳说：“我建议你闭嘴。”尽管如此，区议会最终通过了该预算。

Regional Councillors from other municipalities said it was irresponsible to reject the budget without proposing an alternative. Joe Li was “totally disgusted” by the criticism and retorted “I would rather suggest you shut up your mouth.” Nevertheless, Council ultimately approved the increase.



那么道路项目预算的百分之一增长究竟意味着什么呢？我们必须知道的第一件事是，这个额外的税将在未来四年每年征收，直到2022年。这笔钱用于加快道路的扩建，解决交通堵塞。这意味着2019年平均每户的地税账单要增加95元，其中24元将用于道路扩宽，否则，需要超过10年才能完成道路的扩宽。

So what is this one percent for road projects all about? The first thing we must know is that this extra taxation will be repeated for the next four years, ending in 2022. It is used to speed up road-widening projects as a way to tackle gridlock. Of the $95 added to the average tax bill in 2019, $24 of that will advance towards the widening of roads that otherwise would take more than 10 years to come onto the construction schedule.

加速扩宽道路的想法是有争议的。它造成了两个对立的阵营。只要新车道专用于公交车和多乘客专用（HOV）车道，有一批人就会赞成扩宽道路。反对的人则认为这不会减少交通拥堵，成本高，施工会给大家带来不便，而且对健康，环境和社区的负面影响是巨大的。还有人认为，扩宽道路不是长期手段，道路扩宽所增加的交通容量很快就被抵消。

The idea to accelerate the widening of roads is controversial. There are two opposing camps on this concept. There are those who favour widening roads as long as the new lanes are dedicated to public transit buses and High occupancy vehicles (HOV) lanes. Others feel that it will not reduce traffic congestion and the cost, disruption and negative effects on health, the environment and the community are massive. Yet another group suggests that widening roads is not a long-term solution because additional capacity will be consumed.



没有证据表明约克区的业主们，特别是只有固定收入的老年人愿意或能够支付额外的地税。该地区可以通过从预备金中拿钱来支付13个道路扩建项目，从而减少纳税人的额外负担。问题是政客们没有这样的政治意愿或智慧。

No evidence can be found that York Region homeowners, especially seniors on fixed incomes, are willing or able to pay the additional tax. The region could remove the additional burden on taxpayers by borrowing the funds for the 13 road widening projects involved from a reserve account instead. There is no political will or wisdom to do so.

如何缓解约克区道路的交通拥堵还有很多其他方法。比如根据多伦多和其他城市的经验，交通高峰时段，利用控制交通灯，让汽车畅通无阻，减少红灯引起的停车。统计显示，在许多其他城市，控制交通灯可以加快道路的畅通，减少在红灯前的等待时间。

There are many other suggestions on how to relieve traffic congestion within York Regional roads. The use of roadways in alternate directions dictated by overhead lights during rush hour periods should be implemented based on successes in downtown Toronto and other cities. In many other cities, traffic studies gathering statistics form the basis of traffic light intervals to facilitate a smooth flow of traffic optimized to allow for the shortest waiting times at the lights.



对于许多人来说，随着高人口密度的新居民区开发，扩宽道路似乎是一种不能解决交通根本问题的方案。如果要从新区的居民身上收取大量的开发费用，为什么政府不去直接去建新路呢？

To many of us, the road widening seems to be a band-aid solution to alleviate developments of new communities with dense populations. If huge amounts of development charges are to be collected from them, then why are they not put into road infrastructures as intended?

在约克区政府从居民那里搜刮更多税款之前，他们应该先考虑一下如何通过提高效率来节省一些钱。将超过2亿元的新办公楼停建应是一个良好的开端。应把查看区政府公务员的薪金和福利支出，以及提高公务员的工作效率应放在首位。高税率将使安省政府进一步对约克区市政改革的关注。省府对约克区政府的审查显然不是个好兆头，搞不好会让约克区这个小王国解体。秋后算账的日子近了。

Before York Region collects more taxes from its residents, they should first examine where they can save some money through efficiencies. Stop spending over $200 million on a new office building will be a good start. Look into salaries and benefits and efficiencies of its staff should be a high priority. At these very high rate of taxes, it is drawing more attentions of the provincial review on Regional reform. The results of that review will not be very kind to the Region and would probably recommend a break-up of the Regional empire. The days of reckoning will come soon.