Dear Editor:
As a former councillor for the district of North Vancouver, I was unsurprised that pay scales were high, but I was startled that they are so high (Municipal Brass See Pay Balloon, July 18, North Shore News)
It is unfortunately true that it is very rare that the custodians of the cookie jar do not avail themselves of its contents. Politicians and civil servants being mostly human are subject to human failings
I recall being on council when we raised our stipend to $25,000 (a pittance by today's standard) It was pretty slick: There was a committee of citizens who did some research (aided by staff), looked at all the other overpaid councils and decided we needed more. We voted for the increase. Ka-ching!
After all, we were very important, being the elected representatives of a very important municipality and, as they say, "If you want good people you have to pay good money"- the mantra of every overpaid bureaucracy in existence. The fact that the majority of council was systematically unemployed was neither here nor there.
So, here we are: a system where the public is a servant to the civil service at managerial and political levels, and the taxpayer exists only to fund their good fortune.
How does it change? Perhaps the only hope is that a political party will take up the challenge and go beyond controlling the rank-and-file workers' wages to look with a jaundiced eye upon the managerial component of government.
Where is our champion to take on such a challenge? It is not apparent to me from where such a Phoenix might arise. We live in hope.
Rick Buchols North Vancouver
