CVRD ‘wish list’ frivilous waste
I attended a CVRD meeting on the 2018 budget at Kerry Park recently along with about 100 other, mostly angry taxpayers. Cowichan residents are strongly reacting to the ever increasing CVRD spending that is of little or no benefit to them or the community.
The CRVD plans to up spending by more than $1 million to $73 million next year with raises for everyone that works there and more unnecessary hiring. They have even proposed increasing spending on very frivolous things in this year’s budget.
Here’s some of the Christmas wish list items we were told about: $100,000 for a new boat launch at Cowichan Bay; $150,000 for skateboard park improvements at Kerry Park; $110,000 for a records clerk at the CVRD HQ; $240,000 to move the CVRD emergency office from downtown to Bings Creek; $40,000 for Rogers Hometown Hockey; $125,000 for part two of Cowichan 2050 report (?); $75,000 to be wasted on more economic development projects; $250,000 for a front end loader for the waste dump; $35,000 for another vehicle to add to the already huge CVRD fleet that is parked behind the CVRD office.
We also heard about recent office renovations that were budgeted for $200,000 and ended up costing $400,000. Who are the real beneficiaries of all this wasteful spending?
These shocking extra spending items well reflect the public’s concern that the CVRD leadership and staff have little interest in protecting taxpayers and are focused on expanding their huge bureaucracy and raising taxes as they do every year.
The answer from the very highly paid CVRD executives present about how many people are employed full time by the CVRD was “well I don’t really know, maybe 300 full time and another 600 part-time.” The wage bill next year is going to be more than $20 million and for the brass not to be aware of exactly how many people are employed by them is simply unacceptable.
There is little accountability for staff performance and most elected directors seem more concerned about shovelling out hundreds of thousands of our dollars in grants to third parties for questionable projects rather than keeping taxes low or improving services.
When is the CVRD board going to start listening to taxpayers rather than special interest groups and staff? How about some leadership and fiscal responsibility? It really is possible to reduce spending and taxes and improve services but it requires setting priorities and getting rid of waste.
W.E. (Bill) Dumont
Cobble Hill
