Affordability and accountability make up much of Attridge’s campaign commitments

Photo courtesy of Todd Attridge Facebook.

By: Dan Jones, Northumberland 89.7 FM News, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter.

The three A’s-Affordability, Accountability and Adaptability are the pillars to Todd Attridge’s campaign to Port Hope’s top job.

He’s recognizing that the cost of living, U.S. tariffs and housing prices are putting the squeeze on residents.

At the same time, Port Hope, he claims, is facing $100 million in aging infrastructure issues, which will need attention. Yet, with struggling industry, much of the burden for repairs or replacement of infrastructure will fall to the taxpayer.

Attridge is proposing to change that by shifting the tax percentage away from citizens and on to the agricultural, tourism, and manufacturing sectors.

“Taxes are really high and people are struggling to really afford their houses,” he said. “We can diversify the tax base. Most of the taxes fall on the shoulders of residents.”

Attridge wants to pursue new industrial development and grow current industries, which he is hopeful will generate more revenues for the municipality. Part of this will be to identify lands prime for labourforce development to attract business opportunity.

With increased business, comes increased population. Attridge said Port Hope has a zero percent vacancy rate, no rentals and seniors are over housed, looking to downsize, with few options, creating a mix of housing is a must to support economic growth.

He asserts that Port Hope has many outdated bylaws and an overhauling of the Official Community Plan will make it easier for development of multi-unit residential builds. Attridge said adjusting the “As of Rights” requirements for builds of apartments and townhouses will speed up the approval process. “Our bylaws make it slow and clunky to get builds in the ground,” he explained.

The current councillor said he is hearing that many in Port Hope feel they are not being heard or Council is not transparent in its decision-making.

“Documents are written in jargon you don't speak. Decisions are made before you even know they're coming. There's a sense that you’re not being heard or included,” his platform said.

To address this, Attridge is committing to having the municipality and questions in a clear, immediate manner, implement a system to track residents' concerns and publish an accountability and performance audit of Council’s yearly progress.

Attridge is contesting against Olena Hankivsky, Angela Grogan, Ian West and David Stambrook for mayor of Port Hope.