Responsible Budgeting in London, Ontario

Dear Mayor Fontana and Members of London City Council: Thank you. Thank you for being leaders who are true to your word. Thank you for following through on your promises. Thank you for working, to the best of your knowledge and ability, to steward public dollars in the most responsible way. Thank you for recognizing the pressures that economic challenges create for London families and for doing your best to alleviate those pressures with a 0% household tax increase for two-years running. Now, as you prepare to draft the 2013 budget, I implore you to stop and consider the implications of another year of 0% on the future of our shared community. If, as experts within city hall and throughout the community have suggested, additional years at 0% will cause cuts to important social and cultural services, and necessitate compromises that affect our community’s most vulnerable, I can no longer support or appreciate your actions. I cannot and will not support: - Cuts to library services or collections, or reductions in any of our other cultural institutions; - Reductions in the hours of swimming pools, splash pads or wading pools for London’s children and families; - Eliminations to the upkeep of social housing; - Cuts to public transit service; - Any reduction, cut or elimination of programs that serve our city’s most vulnerable. I believe what you believe: that the London of the future – competitive, dynamic and prosperous – must be built on sensible economic policies, which are compassionate, inclusive and forwarding-thinking. With my most sincere hopes, I sign this petition to urge you to move from zero, to Hero.