Dear Editor,
After reading the Paintearth County 2025 Budget I have some concerns.
It appears to me the County wants to “Reinvent the Wheel” in their plans to spend $3.5 million for Broadband network construction plus $300,000.00 Broadband operating expenses.
Is the County not aware of Starlink and Xplornet who offer broadband services at much less cost?
With a population of approximately 2000 the $3,800,000.00 expenditure works out to be $1900.00 per person.
I am not sure every person requires their own Broadband service (usually one service per household provides service to multiple members).
Starlink as an alternative costs approximately $500.00 per installation at a subscription rate of $140.00 per month. Starlink is available world wide with speeds that challenge the fastest speeds by any broadband provider in the world.
Total cost of Starlink for the total population would be approximately $500.00 x 2000=$1,000,000.00.
Why is the County of Paintearth taxyayers who are all experiencing increased utility rates, increased insurance costs, increased carbon taxes, increased income taxes, increased municipal taxes, be ‘Taxed’ more to provide a service that has competitive commercial solutions in the marketplace which should be paid for by individuals?
I think the County owes the taxpayers of Paintearth a copy of their Business Plan that justifies their planned expenditure of $3,800,000.00 for a service that can be provided at least 25 per cent (more likely 10 – 15 per cent) of the cost they are planning to spend.
A concerned Paintearth taxpayer,
Dick Bruggencate
