Before stamp-happy Merritt city councillors rush to approve the next expenditure, they might want to consider that the amount of municipal spending going on right now is not going unnoticed.

Forget about easy targets like the big spenders in Victoria, Merrittonians may soon be cleaning their own house, like the Tea Party-styled brick wall that has stopped West Vancouver councillors dead in their tracks.

The Canadian Taxpayers Federation’s Ratepayer Associate’s Template (RPA), modelled after West Vancouver’s Interested Taxpayers' Action Committee (ITAC), may just be what the people of this city, riddled with what seems like endless amounts of city sub committees that are difficult to keep track of (from a taxpayer’s point of view), in order to roll back or, at least, stop the increase in property taxes I hear so many citizens passionately talking about.

Not only are they complaining, they are asking legitimate questions about where all their money is going.

Municipal spending in B.C. rose by almost 50 per cent and property taxes rose by 37 per cent between 2002 and 2008. Considering that it took only 14 West Vancouver residents to stop property tax hikes and certain expenditures, it could only be a cake walk here in Merritt. The Taxpayers Federation says it only takes a small band of “dedicated” rebels to make change at the municipal level.

The convenience of having a non-partisan RPA is that it doesn’t need to involve participation by the entire membership in order to help achieve its objectives.

The RPA can represent the entire municipality of homeowners, businesses, and industry, and concern itself with spending and taxation in all categories.

The Taxpayers Federation suggests that, “governments should only do what only governments can do,” making clear choices about what activities local government should be engaged in, so that “taxpayers’ scarce dollars are used for only those goods and services that cannot be provided by individuals and businesses.”

Furthermore, government expenditures must be controlled to “protect the taxpayers’ collective purse from excessive pillaging.”

Phew! Thank you to the fabulous 14 from West Vancouver for raising the democratic bar another three notches.

If you would have told me 6 months ago that B.C. would be on the verge of a tax referendum, about to recall a bunch of MLAs, and that a B.C. Tea Party would be brewing, I would have scoffed. Here’s to being wrong.

But don’t expect things to happen over night. ITAC co-founder David Marley says the West Vancouver example was won small steps at a time.

"The hold on property tax increases in West Vancouver was accomplished by convincing the majority of council that the District could maintain or enhance services without raising taxes," he said.

— John O'Connor