Re: Nov. 16 editorial "Another Snowjob."
When is more never enough?
Now 209 employees earn in excess of $750000 per year working at the city. That should be a livable wage considering the B,C, average is supposedly considerably less.
I can not grasp how one individual receives a 22 per cent wage increase over two years.
Having taught school until 2007, I do not believe I saw a wage increase to that extent in my last fifteen years, let alone in two.
Let's move to the fire department.
A quote from page 1 story "A big part of the equation..."
Just less than half of the 67 employees earning more the $100,000 held jobs within the fire department. (I can see thousands queuing for a job there.)
And the beat goes on.
Meanwhile, city council increases taxes and other fees somewhere between two and six per cent annually.
All this transpires in a city which has lost population in the last decade.
One would think we would not need to hire additional personnel, be it RCMP, firefighters, clerical staff or whatever.
Yet, in all likelihood, the city will be asked to hire more of the above next spring.
And the beat goes on, again.
It would be so refreshing if this council could get a grip on these costs.
I believe the average taxpayer is maxed out and has had enough. This isn't private industry and the salaries that go with it.
And no, I don't buy the often-used argument that you have to overpay employees or they will go elsewhere.
There are tens of thousands who would gladly work for $75,000 a year. Let's get real.
We surrender.
I have little faith that much will change, as a different editor suggests that city council can't grasp how people feel.
Perhaps some smart Citizen staffer could do a comparison between Prince George, Nanaimo, Kelowna, and maybe Abbotsford to see if these salaries and the number of people earning over $100,000 per year, paid for from the public purse, are out of line.
I believe many would like to know how Prince George stacks up with the rest.
And that my friends, is when more is never enough.
Gary Delaney
Prince George
