Mayoral candidates agree on cutting fees, split on strong mayor powers

Wayne Redekop and two of his three opponents for Fort Erie mayor told the Niagara Business Alliance that development charges, the fees developers pay for each new home, should drop to encourage attainable housing.

Mike Campbell, the fourth mayoral candidate, did not answer the alliance’s survey.

The Niagara Business Alliance, a coalition of 10 business and housing groups, published the candidates’ answers Wednesday, 12 days before Fort Erie voters elect a mayor and council on October 26.

Tom Insinna and Juan Liu joined Redekop in strongly agreeing that municipalities should reduce the charges, which help pay for the roads and water pipes that new homes require.

Eight of the 11 Fort Erie candidates who filled out the survey, or 73 per cent, agreed development charges should come down, compared with 59.2 per cent of participating candidates across Niagara.

Ward 3 council candidate and incumbent Darren Flagg was the only Fort Erie candidate to disagree. The survey did not ask candidates to explain their answers.

Campbell spoke to Fort Erie Radio on Tuesday at a candidates’ meet-and-greet hosted by Fort Erie Healthcare SOS. He said Fort Erie’s infrastructure cannot fully serve its current homes, let alone 2,500 more on the way.

“Putting up homes is not the way to go yet. You need to deal with the infrastructure first,” Campbell said.

Each of the three mayoral candidates who responded to the survey chose to hold property tax increases at or below the rate of inflation.

Ward 4 council candidate and incumbent Joan Christensen was the only Fort Erie candidate in the survey to support tax increases above inflation when council needs the money to improve services.

Redekop told Fort Erie Radio at the same event that about half of every tax dollar leaving Fort Erie goes to Niagara Region. One of every $5 a resident pays in taxes funds Niagara Regional Police, whose budget could rise about 14 per cent in 2027, Redekop said.

Liu told Fort Erie Radio that property taxes could start falling within three months and disappear within two or three years under her plan devised by Liu’s “science team.”

In the survey, Liu chose to hold annual tax increases below inflation whenever possible. Liu did not say how the plan would replace the town’s property tax revenue.

The three mayoral candidates were split on Ontario’s strong mayor powers, which let a mayor propose the municipal budget and veto some bylaws council passes.

Liu would apply the powers to speed up council and provincial priorities. Insinna would treat them as a last resort after trying to build consensus. Redekop does not intend to exercise them unless the law requires it.

Redekop led an 18-9 regional council vote April 30 asking the province to deny Niagara’s appointed regional chair a veto over elected mayors.

Insinna told the alliance he would grow Fort Erie’s industrial and commercial base to create jobs, saying the town “has been spinning its wheels in the sand.”

The Niagara Home Builders’ Association and the Niagara Association of Realtors sit among the alliance’s member groups.

The alliance said the results do not amount to a poll of voters or an election forecast.

Fort Erie’s next mayor will hold the town’s only seat on Niagara regional council. Ontario’s Bill 100, passed May 7, shrinks that council to Niagara’s 12 mayors and a provincially appointed chair after the election. The law eliminates the regional seat Insinna now holds.

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