Dear editor,
Promises, promises, promises. That portion of the electioneering is now over.
The one promise that always makes me shudder is “cut taxes.” I have seen my taxes cut only one time. (I was out of work.)
So let’s look at what should be this new council’s priority. Reduce spending. That way, our taxes should be stabilized at least for the next couple or more years, depending on how much they cut.
Do not confuse cutting spending with cutting services, which is where most people get hung up. Having been an alderman in a former life I know wherefrom I speak. Hold spending or use some judicial look at the spending and your taxes need not go up. Two ways of doing this are:
1 - This slate of councillors ran and won for a seat with a value of $25,000 per year or $100,000 for their elected term. Therefore there is no need to increase this stipend until the last council meeting of this four-year term. It’s called holding the line. The $300,000 the mayor receives should be considered in the same way.
2 - Staffing should be looked at by an outside firm (different firm than the last one) to get a different point of view and not picked by incumbent staff. Again having been employed by government for a time in my life I know that over-staffing by government is an ongoing problem. Further compounding the problem of more staff more dollar cost is that next year it will be more but just as important is the fact that there is a book out there that increases the take-home pay of all those who now supervise more staff.
I say to the incumbents, sharpen your pencils and to the new members look sharp.
Rick Kellow
Courtenay