Editor: Councillor Steve Ferguson (The Times, Sept. 1) attempts to revise recent Township tax history. He lauds recently-departed councillor Jordan Bateman for his commitment to the bugetary process and their collective “diligent “ work as members of the finance task force.
Councillor Charlie Fox, in his recent announcement indicating his intention to stand for re-election as councillor, stated his commitment to hold tax increases to the rate of inflation. If I may, I would point out that these three charter members of the infamous Gang of Six (now five), and their colleagues, were responsible for tax increases in the last two budgets of over twice the rate of inflation.
They fought the concept of a finance task force and staunchly rejected all of its recommendations. Ferguson stated at the time that staff budget requests were reasonable and justified, because “they wouldn’t ask for the money if they didn’t need it.”
All of these councillors pursued the very costly, too early, too fast replacement of paid on-call firefighters. We now have a very expensive, well-equipped efficient full-time fire fighting system, over a large area with no fire hydrants.
This was a very costly cart before the horse issue, at taxpayers’ expense.
All of these councillors fiercely ignored the loud support for reasonable and low tax increases. They legislated tax rates double the rate of inflation, ignoring the concerns of constituents.
The remaining Gang of Five can’t be allowed to revise history, as they cower in the glare of their record as we approach their replacement in the impending election.
Robert Moats,
Langley
