When it comes to venting our collective spleen, there are few targets easier than politicians and the tax collector.

Orangeville ratepayers were handed the news that their overall tax bill for 2008 would jump 3.32 per cent. This means that a homeowner with a house assessed at $200,000 will have to come up with $2,960.

Yet, before we cry foul, we should look at how Orangeville stacks up against other Ontario municipalities of similar size. From this angle, we have bad news for the detractors of our politicians and civic administration; Orangeville comes out looking pretty good.

For one thing, the town has actually passed its 2008 budget. That is more than can be said for four other communities: Woodstock, Owen Sound, Centre Wellington and Orillia.

Of the four, Centre Wellington is, perhaps, the only one that could compare favourably to Orangeville.

The Township of Centre Wellington - formed by the amalgamation of Fergus, Elora, and parts of Nichol, Pilkington, West Garafraxa and Eramosa Townships - is in the final stages of preparing its 2008 budget.

The council there has voted to raise the township-only taxes .92 per cent, compared to the 4.89% town-only hike in Orangeville.

Before your skin-hue turns green with envy and you start calling up realtors in Fergus, take into account that about 56 cents of every tax dollar goes to Wellington County. The county was supposed to present its final tax levy last Thursday, but has elected to put it off for a month.

Should Wellington go the same route as Dufferin County and come in with an increase of 2.66 per cent, the owner of a $200,000 home there will likely pay about $200 less than one in Orangeville.

On the other hand, a Centre Wellington taxpayer will find that only 30 per cent of the tax dollars he or she pays will actually go to the township. Compare that to Orangeville, where around 52 per cent of taxes go to the town.

For residents of Owen Sound, it is probable that they won't know what the 2008 budget will entail until late May, when the final bill is expected to come in.

As for the bottom line, an owner of a $200,000 home in that city paid $3,000 in property taxes in 2007, and it's a safe bet that the figure will only go up in 2008.

Woodstock is a prosperous town in southwestern Ontario with a bright future, especially since Toyota is building a new plant there. Compare that to Orangeville, where the bulk of the business headlines tell of plants closing down or chopping shifts.

Yes, things are looking up for Woodstock. So, unfortu- nately, is the tax rate.

Using, once again, the $200,000 home as an example, Woodstock taxes in 2007 were in the neighbourhood of $3,450.

At the time of this writing, county councillors are working on ways to decrease the county levy, which stands to jump an imposing 10.5 per cent in 2008.

Ratepayers in Orillia, unlike Orangeville, do not pay county taxes. Yet, that appears to be of little comfort.

According to local news reports, Orillia city council heads into 2008 budget deliberations almost $900,000 in the hole.

A projected $879,000 deficit in the $40-million operating budget means taxpayers will have to ante up more cash just to maintain existing levels of service this year.

Indicators lean towards a 3.64% residential tax increase in 2008. This means that the owner of a $200,000 property will ante up $2,873 in taxes, which is lower than Orangeville.

Yet, to maintain this level, several capital projects in Orillia are likely to be put on hold.

If a similar scenario faced Orangeville, it would be highly unlikely that the Tony Rose pool, for example, would receive the $240,000 it needs for a dehumidifier to keep the pool structurally sound.

In conclusion, a democratic society gives everyone the right (and for some, the obligation) to rant at the way their home town does business. In Orangeville, though, one may have to pause and ask one's self: Where else do they do it better?