Ft.St. John Council In Big Trouble

Tuesday, April 29, 2008 07:43 AM

Given the position that the Mayor and Council of Ft St John

are about to put their taxpayers into, they might want to consider shopping for a new flat screen TV. Based on their performance, following this fall’s election they will have plenty of time to watch it.

Councilor Karen Simpson told the meeting last night, that she wished the people had come out before it was brought to this point. She said “yes your taxes are too high, we have to fix that somehow, we may lose some services, and we may lose some paving.” She is right on all counts, the reasons she gives and reality however are much different.

Mayor Jim Egliniski says “We will have to do some number crunching”. I do recall talking to the former City Manager who said the Council was spending like there was no tomorrow. That spending spree has now come home.

As for Councilor Simpson’s comment, “We may lose some paving” indeed you may, if you take the money for the new Ener-Plex out of the road fund, indeed you will. A little thought before earmarking on that project was in order but that didn’t happen.

Yes taxes are too high she commented. If you want to build a new firehall, a new tourist center, and above all a new recreation facility for $38 million and you’re short $11 million, common sense would tell you that your taxes are going to be a lot higher.

The problem in all this is that some poor sap is going to have to take the reins over from the outgoing Council in an effort to bring spending under control. That will take time and some serious belt tightening.

In the meantime the Council of the day can come back down to earth and start governing in a manner which protects the taxpayers from going broke in order to pay for the City’s wish list.

I’m Meisner and that’s one man’s opinion.

Previous Story - Next Story

Email |

Print |

Facebook |

Twitter |

Digg |

Del.icio.us

Posted on Tuesday, April 29, 2008 07:43 AM in Views by Ben Meisner

Return to Home

Comments

Posted by: lostfaith on April 29 2008 10:55 AM

The biggest problem with all politicians these days is they are always trying to find ways to spend money we taxpayers don't have. After all, they all want their names up in lights on all these projects.
They should try and find ways of giving us taxpayers tax rebates.
Enough with the projects already.

Posted by: Runner46 on April 29 2008 11:12 AM

Nice to be able to once again critique some one else`s problems, this time from a distance.

Nice soap box!

Posted by: Andyfreeze on April 29 2008 11:40 AM

Lose the $38 million dollar rec center.
Sometimes certian things are just not realistic in terms of actual cash out lay.
Debt is a killer, and more so now than ever!
And oh ya...taxpayers in Fort St.John need a new council ASAP!

Posted by: camoose on April 29 2008 12:04 PM

And Prince George is talking about a performing arts centre....could we learn something here?

Posted by: Steve Thorlakson on April 29 2008 12:13 PM

The former Council got the City out of debt, found $250 Million Fair Share money to fix the roads - the current gang think it's a bottomless piggy bank - the former mayor, council and city manager must be broken hearted to see how badly this gem of the North has been mis-managed in just two short years

Posted by: owl on April 30 2008 4:49 AM

"$250 Million Fair Share money to fix the roads"

Wow .... paved with gold are they? I thought I read someone else on here saying that the potholes are worse than in PG .... may I was dreaming....

Posted by: owl on April 30 2008 4:52 AM

Hey, it just dawned on me. If they get $250 million to fix roads, and we have a population about 4 times the size, and this is called "fair share" then our fare share would be a billion bucks ......

When are we getting our "fair share"?

Posted by: diplomat on April 30 2008 7:51 AM

Ben:"In the meantime the Council of the day can come back down to earth and start governing in a manner which protects the taxpayers from going broke in order to pay for the City�s wish list."

Well, that sentence, in my opinion, could be applied just as well to our own City Hall on Patricia Boulevard, Prince George, B.C.

Posted by: lunarbase on April 30 2008 10:56 AM

The fair share agreement only applies to the Peace Region and it deals with the huge amount of tax dollars taken from the region due to oil and gas. In the past, very little was returned to the region. Now under the fair share program they get a better portion of the tax dollars returned.

Too late for our area I believe, as our wood is basically gone and not bringing in the easy money like oil is.