B.C. municipal elections are over, and Langley Township’s mayor got an automatic pay increase of 12.6 per cent and the councillors received a 19 per cent raise.
This during a down economy and an unproven record of performance.
If they make a financial mess of running the municipality, they still get their automatic pay increases, while cash-strapped residents get more tax increases.
Public leaders should lead by example. If they get massive increases, should not the public servants deserve similar increases? Where does this leave approximately 65 per cent of the population who bear the burden of increased taxes?
The greedy executives and leaders in this world have brought on the universal troubled economy.
The leaders in some of the European countries want their workers to take pay and benefit cuts to stabilize their economies.
If this wealthy class would set the example and reduce their expectations and over-abundance, the workers might also be willing to accept some reductions.
Our taxes in Abbotsford in the past years have risen far above the inflation rate and beyond what many can afford, some of whom have had to accept reduced incomes.
I hope and pray that our new mayor and council will be wise with their decisions and lead by example, and that it will not be necessary to have a taxpayers’ revolt.
Art Hoock