Plenty Of Time Down The Road To Up Those Councillors Salaries
To no one's surprise Prince George City Council has voted not to take a raise in their pay starting in 2016. Their adjustment that they were to receive also was cast aside.
Now take a moment to think about it and while we certainly wouldn't accuse the Council of the day thinking this way, in the November election, the term is for four years, plenty of time during that period to take a raise and have the general public forget about it before the next civic election.
The length of the term in office for Councillors and Mayor is being extended this fall from three to four years, and unlike the provincial legislation which allows for recall of a member, there is no recall at the municipal level. If you make a bad choice in who you vote for this time around, you are stuck with them for four years, which is more than sufficient time to get most projects that are unpopular , such as a PAC, or a Council raise, through .
There are a few Councillors who are looking over their shoulders, including the man who would like to be Mayor, Lyn Hall. The record of this council has been to hold the line in taxes while at the same time, beat us to death with service increases pretty much across the board. Just to make it interesting, a few new increases for services we've never heard of, have been added to the mix.
So don't be surprised at the reluctance of some councillors to support an increase in their take. They can say no today, because if re-elected, there will be plenty of time down the road to change their tune, and there's nothing the taxpayers can do about it.
I'm Meisner and that's one man's opinion.
Comments
I totally agree, and as for Lyn Hall – I cannot trust that guy after he decimated the School District…
Thank you Ben , once again very well said .
When is someone with some substance going to run for Mayor , not some puppet fron city council . I would never waste a vote on either one .
Jeepers, it must have been a slow day on the Curmudgeon Ranch. In Ben’s view, City Council can’t even turn down a raise properly.
Well four years is going to produce a lot of scandals and BS behind closed doors, ugh an extra year of it should be damn interesting. It’s going to be a long run of who is right for the job because to me none of the people on council right now deserve to go back in, however, I was not here then but I am now and I’ll be watching closely to see who is a big fat liar with their campaign models. Don’t be BS’n the public as we’ve been screwed big time with the last folks.
The consideration for giving Councilors pay raises is (as I understand) made during the last year of their term. So if this is so, then they cannot give themselves a raise until 2018, payable in 2019.
For all those people out there that don’t like those who are running for Mayor, and want someone of substance to step forward, don’t hold your breath. The gene pool for top of the liners is pretty skimpy in all areas including political in Prince George.
So, make the best of the situation and vote in the best of the worst. This seems to be our option election after election.
My sense is that a lot of people make judgments on politicians based on emotion rather than an assessment of the facts.
Maybe you are unclear of how or city works Pylot. You just keep introducing stuff until it finally passes. Like flinging poo at the wall until it sticks. If you reintroduce it enough times it will pass. Thing with city business is if it fails that is not the end of it, it can be reintroduced as many times as they want until it does finally pass but once passed it is done, then it is up to citizens to act but because of the costs that usually is prohibitive. The city knows this all too well and you will see this motion before the table again in the not too distant future.
Big question is, who is on this committee that introduced this motion and is this committee now dissolved? If the committee still sits then the chances of them changing their minds is virtually nil and they will still think it is a good idea and reintroduce it in future councils.
@new2pg: You really must be new to PG. Lyn Hall didn’t decimate the school district. Falling enrollment did.
Lyn Hall decimated community centres for real estate dollars for the school district. Now we have junk yards where we use to have community centres that were much more than just schools. Heck the guy in his trailer out North Nechako even took to chasing kids off the ball field with a shot gun a few years back.
Provisions should have at minimum been made with the city to protect the neighbohood playgrounds as parks, but that would have cut into the real estate deals with dead beats.
BTW if councillor pay is based on a percentage of the mayors pay then if the new mayor agrees to work for a little less then all on council would be taking a pay cut as we’ll….
As well…
Eageone. Could you give us a list of where these **junk yards** are located.
The schools I see that were closed are being used for various purposes. Child care, Arts and crafts, banquets, AMHI, and last but not least a **Treatment Centre**.
@JohnnyBelt
Hall and the other cronies failed to see the declining enrolment for years – they should have been dealing with this issue over many years instead ignoring it until it became critical.
Then look what happens up the Hart, they close a bunch of elementary schools, convert heather park to an elementary and then just 2 years later they are installing portables at one of the hart elementary schools they kept open. So now in the middle of winter kids in these portables have to get their winter coats / boots and everything on just to go to the gym / library / computer room. Maybe they should have just reopened one of the schools they closed – but they would not do that because it would just look like they messed up with the number of schools they closed so instead they spend a whole bunch of money on a temporary fix.
Trustees / Councillors / Administration at both the school district and the city are all blinkered and only think about today, they only care about tomorrow if they can have their name on something.
Pal whats that one on highway 97 leaving the Hart to the right just after Chief Lake Road… bloody eye sore junk yard overgrown weed infested disgrace to a neighborhood that use to have the school as the only neighborhood park within a couple of kilometers.
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