In the Middle Ages, men of great intellect slaved away in a vain effort to convert base metals like lead into gold.
Today, alchemy is still practised but now it takes the form of municipal councils trying to find ways to provide more services without more staff in their budgets.
Your municipal tax rates are going up between 2.5 per cent and 4.45 per cent this year depending on which North Shore municipality you live in.
Most of the operating increases are thanks to negotiated wage raises for staff, although actual staffing levels are probably moving upward slightly.
And each council has squirrelled away some extra cash to cover the costs of replacing aging infrastructure, which we fully support. It’s the financially prudent thing to do for future generations.
But, while we applaud our councils and staff in their efforts to always find efficiencies, we don’t believe it’s possible to achieve more with less any more than we believe lead can be turned into gold.
One of humanity’s greatest geniuses, Sir Isaac Newton, also dabbled in alchemy, but it is another of his beliefs that is probably much more applicable to modern budgeting: “For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.”
In 2010 and 2011, the District of West Vancouver left its community forester and environmental co-ordinator positions vacant in a bid to save money and freeze taxes. In 2012, West Vancouver contractors mistakenly cut down a stand of old-growth trees that were supposed to be protected by the people in those jobs.
Some of the trees likely had been standing since the 14th century when alchemy was still practised. We know better now.
Or at least we should.
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