A plea to reinstate waiver
Editor :
Re: Town of Smithers fee waiver for seniors.
The original purpose of this fee waiver by council in 1973 was not only to thank seniors in the Town for their past service to the community but also to help create a community in which seniors would want to remain following their retirement. The previous several years had seen a number of seniors who immediately left Smithers on their retirement.
The original grant also included garbage collection but had to be dropped when council found that it did not fall under the Utilities Act and they did not have the authority to waive it.
The Town of Smithers is not alone in giving consideration to seniors residents. The District of Kitimat provides grants for utilities up to a maximum of $275. The Village of Burns Lake provides free garbage collection service for seniors, the City of Terrace provides a maximum of $250 grant for snow ploughing the driveways and the Village of Vanderhoof grants 15 per cent off utility bills for seniors. Within the last few months the council for the District of Kitimat passed a resolution to “encourage seniors to remain in the community on retirement.”
We have heard a remark from council that one of the reasons for eliminating the water and sewer grant was that seniors were “riding on the backs of the young”. We would remind council that seniors also pay their taxes and that the expenditures for recreation facilities also increase with every year; facilities that are largely used by the young.
With respect, we would also remind council that while we do not have figures for the municipal election, that in the last two federal elections those 55-years-of-age and over cast 59 per cent of the votes. The reason is simple — there are more of them and they turn out in larger numbers than the younger voters.
Arnold DeEllion
Smithers
Will it end?
Editor:
In reply to Gisaga’as Burning Saga (Jan. 12 edition, B1).
When is it going to end? The in-fighting with our Gitxsan Chiefs and politicians over who’s going to be the boss.
I am astounded that these leaders think it’s okay to spend millions of our dollars over who controls the small reserve of Gisaga’as while our people face poverty, unemployment, poor living conditions and suicide from depression, and yet these leaders say they are looking out for these very people.
I think instead of spending all these millions of dollars fighting they should spend it on the people.
Don Krause
Terrace
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