Like many municipalities, Maple Ridge is over-governed and under-serviced by municipal hall.
Taxpayers are burdened with excessive senior staff salaries with the end result being a Rolls Royce bureaucracy in a Chevrolet world.
A glance at financial statements for 2012 reveals that Maple Ridge has four staff members drawing annual salaries in excess of that earned by our member of parliament. Three of those staff members earn more than our premier. Maple Ridge’s chief administrative officer tops the list and is paid $246,000 annually. The general manager of corporate and financial services is paid $193,000 per year. Our general manager of public works and development services receives $204,000 annually. The general manager of community development and parks and recreation receives $170,000 annually, and our municipal engineer is paid $161,000.
For comparative purposes, members of the legislative assembly receive a basic annual indemnity of $101,800, members of parliament are paid $158,000, and our premier receives $193,000.
Maple Ridge has more than 60 employees whose salaries are equal to or greater than the 85 members of the provincial legislative assembly.
Do we really need all of these high-priced bureaucrats to conduct the affairs of Maple Ridge in a timely and efficient manner? It’s an appropriate question, especially when you consider that much of our local decision making is dictated by demands from senior government agencies such as Metro Vancouver, and several provincial and federal agencies.
The salaries quoted do not include police, nor do they include expense accounts, some of which add thousands of dollars to the salary levels of these employees.
In the year 2012, Maple Ridge had 124 employees who earned $75,000 or more per year, or approximately 40 per cent of the total payroll.
Municipal council seems completely oblivious to the economic impact of this monolithic bureaucracy on the lives of every business operator, home owner and resident in Maple Ridge.
There doesn’t appear to be a single council member, including the mayor, who has any understanding of how to create a liveable and affordable community. Their answer over many years seems to have been to add a few more high-priced bureaucrats to the payroll.
Council members each receive in excess of $42,000 annually, with additional expenses and benefits, which add several thousands of dollars to their totals. This does not include any indemnities they receive from regional appointments. To add insult to injury, one-third of all indemnities received by elected officials is tax exempt.
Interestingly, at $6,600, Coun. Corisa Bell’s expenses for 2012 topped those of all members of council except Mayor Ernie Daykin, whose expenses totalled $6,800. It seems odd that someone who campaigned on her ability to oppose unnecessary taxes such as the HST should outspend all other councillors in just her first year on council.
Council members also treat themselves at taxpayer expense to annual junkets such as the recent federation of Canadian municipalities convention in Vancouver.
Council members say attendance at these events is important to help them communicate more effectively on common issues with other local office holders from across the nation and with provincial or federal authorities, who also attend these lavish functions.
I’m just not sure what they are communicating that can’t be done at much lower cost and with a simple invitation to visit Maple Ridge at their own expense.
It’s easy to summarize the accomplishments of the combined efforts of Maple Ridge elected officials and their municipal bureaucrats over the past several years. We still have inadequate roads, lousy or non-existent transit services in most areas, pitiful commercial and industrial development, and sprawling residential growth patterns.
The only significant growth has been at district hall, at the expense of taxpayers.
Nobody is cheating and it’s not quite up to Senate standards, but it appears quite lucrative for the elected and hired participants in their ongoing gouge of taxpayers.
Sandy Macdougall is a retired journalist and former district councillor.
