High business taxes are a problem in Rainy River

Letter to the editor,
I’d like to respond to Ken’s Korner in the April 27, 2010 edition about our historic economic development track record in Rainy River.
He noted that many people have attempted to create a healthy economy with limited success. In my opinion, one of the major road blocks is the high cost of commercial property taxes in Rainy River.
People have a tendency to be more concerned about justifying their actions instead revisiting the situation and finding a viable solution for the problem. Anyone can quote a long list of percentages and figures of what other towns, communities, etc. pay to justify the current taxes in Rainy River but it sure doesn’t solve the problem of the town dying. Rainy River is a small town with a tiny business community which is being forced to pay the lion’s share of the town’s property taxes.
Why would any viable business even entertain any thoughts about opening a business in a town when they know that the potential income to be earned is very disproportionate to the taxes that would need to be paid. Anyone with an ounce of business sense would consider the property taxes a major deterrent if considering opening a business in Rainy River.
Most of our town representatives are small town community members that have had little or no previous experience dealing with economic planning on such a large scale. It’s unreasonable to expect the average town representative to be an expert in a field of town planning that requires years of education and implementation.
I commend our Mayor and Town Council for their efforts made but they lack the expertise to be able to know how to turn the town around. In my own experience, I have found it is a lot better to employ the experts needed instead of spending year after year floundering for lack of knowing how to deal with the situation.
There is a whole community here that is dependent on a few people’s decision making abilities so if they don’t know the answers they better engage someone who does! It would be the money well spent!
Hire experts for a reasonable enough period of time so that they can have an opportunity to allow their plans to mature enough to bear fruition.
If the Town is serious about attracting new business they better re-think their methods of charging property taxes, etc. An option would be to offer any new businesses a very favorable tax rate to encourage them to locate in our beautiful community and also adjust the property taxes for the existing businesses so they can afford to stay in business. Distribute the tax shortfall amongst the residential part of the town.
Instead of a few people paying a lot, have a lot of people paying a little.
–Monica Pigeon