Editor: It’s that time of year when the salaries of Township of Langley employees are released, coincidentally right after we have paid our yearly property tax bill. As my spouse lined up with our fellow “Township sheep” at the Township Office to pay, he pondered “where does the money go?”
In April, the Township opened the new Routley Park, which we live directly across from, but to date, we have not seen latches for the dog gates, the garden shed that was supposed to be built for the community gardeners, nor the street signs marking it is as a new park with restricted speed zones.
Currently, most drivers traveling along 70 Avenue west, do so at autobahn speed.
Year after year, Mark Bakken always seems to be the prize winner of Township remuneration and he continues to enjoy a healthy salary at over $300,000 per year.
I must say, it is an outstanding win for him to pocket such a good chunk of our taxes. But other Township employees are now chomping at the bit to meet or beat that salary and Ramin Seifi, Jason Winslade and Shannon Harvey-Renner are coming in at a close second.
Besides posting their salaries, perhaps it would do more to the readers’ understanding to tell us what these employees do and how they actually contribute to our local government.
As the average salary in B.C. is posted at $46,900, this exorbitant amount of money paid to these individuals seems unwarranted.
What do they do that justifies such a high salary?
It gives us the impression that if you snag a job working for your local government, you are guaranteed a high-paying income with secured benefits and a succulent pension at the end of your career — all at the cost of taxpayers in the community.
It would be like winning the lottery.
For now, we have many unanswered questions as we read and contemplate the article Township salaries, council remuneration figures released, and we wait for the new Routley Park to be finished.
I guess there just isn’t enough money in the pot to finish the park since we have to pay all those Township salaries.
Sandra Steffan and Edward Degenstien,
Langley
