Dear Editor:
As a former resident and councillor of the District of North Vancouver I like to keep apprised of what is going on in my old “hood.” I was actually quite stunned to read last week of the reporting of the 2017 SOFI (Statement of Financial Information) for the three North Shore municipalities. Of particular note was that salaries and benefits in the District of North Vancouver had grown to approximately $78.3 million. In fiscal 2002, the year I was elected to council, that number was approximately $29 million. That is growth of 170 per cent in 15 years. In case you were wondering, that is a compound rate of 6.8 per cent. I would venture to guess that the FTE (full-time equivalent) count is pretty close to what it was in 2002.
So how is this even possible in a time when the consumer price index rarely, if ever, exceeded three per cent?
Also interesting is that SOFI now only requires the publication of the names of employees earning more that $100,000 per annum. In 2002 and for many years thereafter, only those employees earning more than $75,000 were published.
We will likely read a few responses to my letter that will attempt to justify or rationalize this extraordinary statistic. Excuses such as “tight, competitive labour markets;” “costs of inputs to municipally provided services exceeding CPI;” “citi-zens demanding high levels of service,” etc.
Nothing – and I repeat nothing – should justify these extraordinary rates of salary increases when such a large number of DNV constituents are living on fixed incomes or investment portfolios that rarely, if ever, generate more than three to four per cent return on investment.
I would venture to say the same story plays out in municipalities all across the province and country. It is time for all of us to take note of how our local government civil “servants” are lining their pockets at our collective expense and then demand a full accounting of this travesty.
Alan Nixon
Nanaimo
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