Editor: Misdeeds result from one who misleads.
Once again, misinformation is being spread by Mayor Rick Green. I feel sorry for Mayor Green’s supporters as he continues to spin and mislead, causing confusion and concern.
Just this week one of his supporters wrote in, after he called the LEC “a fiasco due to a payment of $8.3 million for financial mismanagement.”
Firstly, let me point out that Mayor Green voted in favour of terminating the LEC management contract with KBR. He was at the root of the issue coming to the forefront. Then it became a bad deal.
Well folks, let’s look at the numbers and see if you can find the mismanagement.
We can agree that there was a payment of $8.8 million. That’s about it.
Where we disagree is in what the LEC is. The LEC is a jewel that most other communities are envious of, and all but the mayor are proud of.
Financially, the numbers speak for themselves:
The appraised value is $100 million; total construction costs were $66 million; contributions from the partners, the province, TWU, School District 35, and the Langley Gymnastics Foundation were $22.5 million; and the total cost to the Township was $42.5 million.
In plain language – the Township of Langley paid 42.5 cents for every dollar that the community benefitted from in the construction of the facility.
Well folks, paying 43 or 42 cents on the dollar is a pretty good deal, but Mayor Green would not tell you that. He could do better … can’t say how … so time to mislead.
The writer of that letter also made reference to a Property Endowment Fund for Langley. This was an election promise of the Mayor in 2008 and he had council support provided he produced a business plan for such an endeavour.
He did not.
So in typical Green fashion, when he is to do something and it does not get done then it can only be one party’s fault. That is right, you guessed it, council. In 23 months he accomplished nothing on this issue and now he brings it up as an election issue.
His supporter in the letter indicates several Lower Mainland municipalities have Property Endowment Funds. This is absolutely incorrect. The Township has a Land Reserve with very specific and strict rules governing it.
The City of Vancouver does have a Property Endowment Fund … and despite having one, a casino and a fully implemented Fire Department their tax increase was 4.2 per cent last year, a full .25 per cent above ours.
Burnaby, Surrey and Richmond do not have Property Endowment Funds. Burnaby has an ‘Industrial Use Reserve’ for property transactions and Surrey has the ‘Surrey City Development Corporation’, neither of which contributes to taxpayer savings. Richmond has a Land Reserve, just like the Township.
So what do we have? Just another example of Mayor Green providing misinformation to his supporters with the result that they mislead the public so they are responsible for the misdeed.
It’s time for the spin and the misleading to stop.
Langley deserves the truth.
Come clean Mayor Green.
Councillor Charlie Fox
