About Us

We are the Region of Waterloo (ROW) chapter of the Property Taxpayers Alliance (PTA) of Ontario. Our members include home owners, business owners and renters who have joined forces to advocate for dramatic improvement in the “accountability”, “affordability” and “value-for-money” performance of our local governments (municipal, township, and regional).

We advocate for:

1. A significant and measurable improvement in the operating efficiency and effectiveness of our municipalities, townships, and the regional government.
2. Average annual cost increases (property taxes, surcharges, service fees) that are sustainable/affordable (i.e. growing on average at the rate of inflation).
3. The timely and easily accessed disclosure of information (such as voting records) required to assess performance and hold mayors and councillors accountable.

The ROWPTA is nonpartisan. We believe in fact-based problem solving and wish to work with the region’s elected representatives to achieve more efficient, and effective local government. We believe in respectful and constructive dialogue.

Situation:

Our regional tax bills have been rising at multiples of inflation for years. This is a recipe for disaster and can’t continue. It is simply not sustainable. Property taxpayer incomes have been rising on average at the inflation rate, or less. So what are our elected representatives doing about it?

Property tax affordability has become a major issue in the Waterloo Region. Lower income households are struggling and tax arrears/defaults are rising. Its time to get involved. Help us bring about change. Subscribe to our newsletter and join the movement. Tax bills should increase each year on average no faster than the incomes of those who pay those tax bills.

The cost of infrastructure for new housing developments is increasingly being dumped on the backs of existing property taxpayers. This is wrong. They’ve already paid for the infrastructure servicing their homes when they bought them, and they continue to be taxed for its maintenance. They should not also be taxed to pay for the infrastructure required by new housing developments. Growth MUST pay for Growth.

There’s little accountability for cost overruns, which are incessant. They are simply dumped on the backs of homeowners through higher property taxes. Budgets are ballooning with unrealistic salary, wage, and benefit increases, excessive hiring, and the addition of new municipal discretionary services that the majority of residents never even asked for.

Ever try to find out how your councillor or mayor voted on a motion brought to council chambers? If so, you’d know its next to impossible. One must dig through mountains of web pages, then find and watch a ~50 minute video, and then locate the exact few seconds in the video that the “voting record” is flashed on the screen before it disappears. It’s preposterous. Who has the time or the knowledge to do this? No wonder voting turnouts are so poor! How our councillors and mayors vote on motions brought before chambers should be posted and maintained on a dedicated top level City website page called something like “Councillor/Mayor Voting Record” for all residents to easily find and see. How else can we hold those we vote for accountable without having access to such information? Why isn’t it already being made available? This is a serious violation of basic transparency standards. It also leads to a lack of accountability. This must change!

Subscribe to our newsletter and join the movement. Have questions? Please Contact Us.