First Electronic Town Hall

A Pointless Excercise??

The first electronic town hall which took the first hour and a half of the regular council meeting on March 25, was pretty much a waste of time and money.

There was no meaningful questions asked or answered and the results assured Councillor Brennan that there is no such thing as taxpayer fatique in the city of Nanaimo. Once again, she referred to the 300 person survey as assurance that council should stay the course and keep spending, spending and then spending some more.

No one on council seemed to be able to suggest any possible way that the cost of staffing could be dealt with even though wages and benefits accounts for the spending of about 80% of every tax dollar that is collected.

A question about the cost of firefighters, as could be expected was defended by Councillor Greves, who seems to have no issues with a 14% increase in two years, and not accepting another 5.5% this time around. This idea that all firefighters in the province are to have parody with Vancouver is sheer lunacy.

The acceptance of such generous wage and benefit settlements in spite of the current economic reality by all members of this council, clearly points to the need for some fresh blood on city council come next election.

Not One Councillor Offered An Idea To Reduce Taxes

I only posed one question to city council which was: "I would like to hear from each member of council, what one measure you are personally considering as a means of reducing residential property taxes this year'. This question was met with a totally dumb council, with the exception of Councillor Kipp. All other members of council clearly have given no thought to how taxes could be reduced at all.

The tax and spend mentality of this council is not surprising but certainly disheartening to say the least.

Councillor Brennan is convinced there is no such thing as taxpayer fatigue and feels quite confident in seeing your taxes increase at least another 23% over the next five years.

Were Questions Rehearsed By Council??

I have asked Mayor Ruttan to tell me whether city council was hearing all the questions for the first time live and on air, or had they been rehearsed earlier? The reason I ask, was the fact he and council were unable to answer my question, which I know was unrehearsed. If I hear from the mayor I will relay his comment here.