Just after I had a letter ready for the The News to show sympathy to our city councillors for the constant stream of negative talk about them, I see front page news telling us of yet another big spending binge employed by the same people that I felt sorry for. But no more.For some time now I had been wondering as to why so little good is said about the town councillors in this fair city of ours. But perhaps, there is not too much good to say in the line of them being good stewards for the taxpaying public?I ask, how on Earth can city council, at this point in time, spend $64,000 on a non-essential art project, just after spending $1 million on a Friendship Garden few people use? Plus throwing another $100 million towards a sports centre, and millions more each year to pay for debt servicing and operating deficit costs. Isn’t that enough spending for a while?Where is the common sense in any of this? Why not get your fiscal house in order first of all?Any other business who operates on this type of principle will soon find themselves bankrupt.It must be awful easy to spend the taxpayers’ hard-earned monies, right? What if this were your own money?It seems to me that there are only a few councillors who truly understand their core mandate towards running a city.Everyone knows that running a city is a complex business. I respect those who dedicate their life to this cause. But surely you can do a better job than this?I keep wondering if city hall should have a watchdog like Sheila Fraser. Perhaps that would set the taxpaying public’s mind at ease and help the obviously overburdened councillor situation. One thing is for certain, these free-spending councillor tactics are not sustainable.I smell rumblings of a tax revolt. I truly hope that will not be necessary. Gertie Pool
