On January 24th 2011 Abbotsford council closed Matsqui Pool.. On February 7th 2011 the mayor and councillors give themselves a large raise, benefits and perks as well as an Never-ending stream of yearly pay raises. Perhaps explaining council’s desperate need to save thousands of dollars by closing Matsqui Pool.

As to the question of whether council deserved a raise – the closing of Matsqui Pool, and the history of that closing, provide clear evidence that mayor and council did not deserved one single cent of an increase.

Mayor and council are suppose to be stewards of the City of Abbotsford’s finances and assets, not vandals.

For years council and management of Parks and Recreation have wanted, indeed have tried repeatedly, to close Matsqui Pool.

Just as an aside: Have you noticed that when council and Parks and Rec management want to build something (an arena or a museum/gallery) they are all about comparisons to other cities BUT when council and management wanted to close Matsqui pool there was no comparison to other communities; a comparison that would highlight Abbotsford’s severe shortage of public pool space?

Council claims it would cost too much to repair Matsqui pool and they cannot afford the $70,000 annual operating costs – yet council has $500,000 (or more) for yearly subsidies to purchase of a profession al hockey team for wealthy Abbotsford citizens; $600,000+ to subsidize the Museum/Art Gallery; multi-millions of dollars to subsidize the operation of the arena for the Heat to play in.

And council has $250,000 to demolish the pool.

I do not want to get mired down in an argument about whether the city’s estimate of $1 – 2 million to repair the pool is accurate (but given city management and council’s record of grossly underestimating the costs for projects they wish to do and exaggerating the costs of projects or things they don’t want to do……) or whether competent management could accomplish this task for considerably less. Nor mired down in the fact that when a neighbour of mine had a leak in his pool tank he had no problem finding and repairing the leak. But then he was a competent individual who hired competent help to find (and repair) the leak.

No the real point is that the current decrepit state Matsqui Pool is the result of the failure to perform prudent and needed maintenance. A failure council and management will no doubt claim had nothing to do with their desire to close Matsqui Pool.

Which makes it clear that 1) “Getting good value for money [for taxpayers] is our number one priority.” is of concern only where it can be used to justify taking an action council wishes to take (leaving the FVRD) and 2) that council is quite content destroying value if that will justify taking an action (closing Matsqui Pool) council wishes to take.

That council’s decisions and failure to act as a steward of a valuable and treasured taxpayer asset brought Matsqui Pool to its current state of disrepair evidences not only that 1) council should not have gotten a raise, but that 2) a garnishee of council wages was in order. Oh, and 3) Mark Taylor should be fired before he can inflict further damage to taxpayer’s parks and recreation assets.

With Abbotsford City Hall’s unsurpassed record of spend, spend, spend taxpayer’s dollars, it came as no surprise that council voted itself an unending, unlimited stream of yearly raises.

Neither should any Abbotsford taxpayer have been surprised that city manager Frank Pizzuto presented a staff report that recommended the increase since management and council have a very cozy, incestuous, salary relationship.

Council gives management yearly raises – and bonuses – is anyone surprised management recommends council give itself a raise? Or that it was recommended council get a yearly salary raise? Or that council promptly gave itself this limitless pay raise?

To add insult to the injury done to taxpayers tax bills by this never-ending, no limits pay raise, council and management started throwing around Abbotsford City Hall Math in regards to the pay raise.

[Abbotsford City Hall Math: City hall calculates a profit for taxpayers and the reality turns out to be multi-million dollar yearly losses that taxpayers must cover.]

Abbotsford City Hall Math:

The mayor’s increases work out to an average of 1.8 per cent a year, for the past five years, while councillors would get an average of 1.4 per cent a year over the same period of time.

Reality:

Other than the fact that dividing the raise by 5 makes it seem much smaller – what does the past 5 years have to do with this pay raise?
Perhaps council is seeking to have taxpayers forget that council enriched itself over the past three years with the 44% pay increase they gave themselves just three years ago?

A 44% raise that after receiving, council quickly cut the number of council meetings in half.

But then council, city management and Tim Dillon and Associates were very careful to just compare what surrounding councils were paid – and not what value taxpayers in those municipalities received for the wages they paid their councils.

Hardly surprising since even the most cursory comparison between what the taxpayers of Langley paid for their Sports and Entertainment Centre (and received for their investment) and what the taxpayers of Abbotsford paid, and continue to pay, (and received for their $$$$) would inevitably lead any independent party to the conclusion that 1) council does not deserve a 9% (mayor – 7% council) raise and 2) the taxpayers of Abbotsford are entitled to a refund, a BIG refund.

Instead, council will receive yearly raises in an amount which is unknown and on which there is no cap to limit the size of the raise in any given year.
Raises that will continue to have no relationship to the manner in which council fumbles its responsibilities.

Council gets the $$$$$$$$ and taxpayers – as usual – get the shaft, footing the bills for councils profligate ways.

So, council paid Tim Dillon & Associates $9,000 to provide justification for giving themselves (council) yet another pay raise? A raise that is to include health benefits, a yearly allowance for attending community events and an annual conference allowance?

With all the council promises and decisions that have turned in black holes sucking millions of dollars out of the city budget, infrastructure (e.g. Matsqui Pool) that is falling apart, the city mired in a financial quagmire, the need for water rationing (in one of the wettest years on record) in order to have water for the Fire Department to use…….how could anyone, even Abbotsford’s council, possibly think a raise is either deserved or in order?

What’s next? A golden retirement plan like the ones provincial and federal politicians have gifted themselves?

Perhaps the most offensive aspect of this pay raise proposal is to increase the mayor and city council’s wages every year – forever – without the politicians every having to face the taxpayers and publically vote to push their personal hands deeper into taxpayers pockets. If council has its way raises will happen quietly, behind the closed doors of City Hall, without any need to bother taxpayers with the knowledge that council has gotten yet another automatic yearly raise – unearned and undeserved or not.

So much for Mayor Peary’s “Getting good value for money [for taxpayers] is our number one priority.”

And while I include council’s current salaries as well as the proposed salary raises and perks in stating that taxpayers are not getting value for the wages they currently pay council – I do not include the $9000 paid to Tim Dillon & Associates in this lack of value.

Not that I don’t consider the $9000 paid to Tim Dillon & Associates to permit council to squander yet more taxpayer dollars – in this instance directly stuffing taxpayer dollars into council’s personal pockets – a misuse of city funds.

It is just that $9000 seems a fairly cheap price, perhaps even a bargain, when you contrast the outcome, the proposed 9% pay raise, with the nearly 50% pay raise council arrived at, and gave themselves, on their own 3 years ago.

“Getting good value for money [for taxpayers] is our number one priority.”

Laughable.

If there was any relationship between ‘value for money’ and the wages paid to Abbotsford’s current council, taxpayers would be getting an extremely large refund of the wages city council has paid itself.

Instead council is going to give itself ongoing yearly salary increases, benefits and perks. Business as usual – council (or friends) get the mine and taxpayers get the shaft.