It was a great relief to read the news that the City of Abbotsford’s financial crisis was resolved and that there would be no need to impose the 2 cents a litre gas tax or to impose more than modest property tax increases.

Obviously the financial problems and capital needs (road repairs and maintenance, the new water source, sewer and waste treatment, etc) have been solved … right? If these money issues had not been resolved Abbotsford would not have been spending money badly needed elsewhere on an unneeded play structure … would it?

After all, anyone with a single functional brain cell and the smallest iota of responsibility would have enough common sense not to fritter away money needed to keep Abbotsford operating on a frivolous toy.

This leaves the only conclusion as, in some mysterious way, all the financial and capital challenges that were facing the City of Abbotsford have been resolved and that the city no longer needs a large injection of cash.

I suppose alternatively … if the financial and capital challenges facing the City of Abbotsford have NOT been resolved, one must conclude from this purchase that Abbotsford city council and city staff are completely irresponsible, do not care about Abbotsford or its taxpayers, incompetent and/or brain dead and have no contact with financial reality or reality period.

If the financial and capital challenges have been successfully resolved then the mayor, council and staff deserve our appreciation, thanks and support.

If the financial and capital challenges have NOT been resolved then the mayor, council and staff deserve to be removed from the city’s payroll. Taxpayers deserve the resignations of mayor and council and the firing of staff responsible for this unnecessary and thoughtless expenditure.

Since such a course of action would require a sense of responsibility and caring for Abbotsford and its taxpayers that Abbotsford’s elected politicos have repeatedly demonstrated a complete lack of, I won’t be holding my breath.

I will however, be writing to Gordon Campbell, Mike de Jong, John Van Dongen and the Minister of Community and Rural Development (Bill Bennett) to point out this further evidence of Abbotsford’s civic government’s lack of financial planning, discipline and responsibility.

I will be asking that, in light of Abbotsford city hall’s and city council’s demonstrated irresponsibility and lack of financial ability, for the future of the City of Abbotsford and its citizens they refuse to enable council’s spendthrift behaviours and spending addiction by just saying no to the 2 cent a litre gas tax. I would suggest others contact provincial officials with this request as well.

City council and staff must be compelled to start acting responsibly and thoughtfully on financial matters – or replaced. Otherwise someone will be buying the Safari Kid Zone from the trustee handling the bankruptcy of the City of Abbotsford.

So one day the mayor, city council and city staff woke up and realized that there were roads in Abbotsford and, Gasp!, these roads need maintenance?

Was council and staff’s apparent sudden awareness that Abbotsford has roads needing maintenance so unsettling and bewildering that they had to hire EBA Consulting to tell them that a) Abbotsford’s roads were in terrible condition and b) Abbotsford needed to spend more money on maintenance?

Was hiring a consulting firm to tell them what any citizen who drives in Abbotsford could have told them just council squandering taxpayer’s money, that is to say business as usual for council?

Or was hiring EBA Consulting an attempt to cover up council and staff’s culpability for the sad and dangerous state of Abbotsford’s roads: “It’s so easy for councils to get into postponing roads as a way to balance budgets” he (Mayor Peary) said; and to help sell the gas tax so that council can bamboozle and victimize citizens once more by covering up the true state of affairs in Abbotsford to protect their jobs: “There would be outrage and all of us (at city hall) would soon be seeking other daytime jobs,’ predicted the mayor. “Nine percent isn’t going to fly.”?

And just how much did the city pay to be enlightened to the fact that the roads in Abbotsford need more maintenance?

Just as an aside: if 1% = $860,000 then $5,000,000 ≈ 6% and $6,000,000 ≈ 7%, not 5%. But then what is a few hundred thousand dollars here or there to council?

The citizens of Abbotsford were assured by city council and staff, when asked about the city’s infrastructure such as roads, water, and waste treatment during the Plan A debate, that council and staff were on top of the infrastructure needs of Abbotsford and that everything was fine with the city’s infrastructure – then and into the future.

Further city council and staff assured citizens as part of the Plan A debate, that Abbotsford’s finances were in excellent shape; that Abbotsford could afford to spend the large sums of money involved on vanity projects without putting at risk the city’s infrastructure needs or the financial health of the city and taxpayers.

These assurances were reiterated during the November 2009 civic election.

Unfolding events since the election have revealed just how lacking in accuracy, reality and veracity such claims, statements and promises were.

If we need to find extra funds for road maintenance I suggest we start with the salaries of the mayor, city council and city staff since they are clearly not earning what they are paid. Indeed given what we are learning about the state of the city’s affairs they owe taxpayers a large reimbursement.

Might I suggest we also put an end to the wallet fattening exercise of paying an honorarium to councillors for every committee they sit on or chair? Perhaps if councillors were not so busy running from committee to committee, in order to maximize the amount of monies going into their pockets, they would have been a little more focused on taking care of the City of Abbotsford’s business.

Realistically it is no surprise that those responsible for this mess are hanging onto their jobs rather than acting with honour and integrity and resigning.

Given what they have wrought in Abbotsford and the financial burdens inflicted on the taxpayers of Abbotsford they are highly unlikely to find anyone foolish enough to hire and overpay them as events have exposed they are grossly overpaid by the City of Abbotsford.

… but then who would hire them?

We now know the truth behind the proposed 2 cents a litre gas tax – it is all about allowing the mayor, city council and senior city staff to continue feasting at the city’s salary trough even though the state of Abbotsford’s roads demonstrates both incompetence and irresponsible behaviour.

“There would be outrage and all of us (at city hall) would soon be seeking other daytime jobs,’ predicted the mayor. “Nine percent isn’t going to fly.”

The gas tax is so the mayor, city council and city staff will be able to go with a deceptively lower property tax increase in next budget and thus keep stuffing their pockets with taxpayer dollars.

Why is the City of Abbotsford and its taxpayers facing this road fiasco?

“It’s so easy for councils to get into postponing roads as a way to balance budgets” he (Mayor Peary) said.

In other words the mayor and city council were focused not on what was needed for Abbotsford to thrive as a city, but on what would get them re-elected and allow them to continue to collect their salaries. Salaries that they clearly did not earn or deserve in light of their failure to take care of city business on behalf of the citizens of Abbotsford.

Given the behaviour of city council and city staff one cannot help but wonder if the reason for all this talk of roads and maintenance is because of council seeking some rational for their proposed gas tax?

Remember that there are numerous other financial issues and needs that the City of Abbotsford needs millions of dollars of increased revenue to cover or fund.

Regretfully it is clear that those responsible for the sad state of affairs and finances in our city, lack the honour and integrity to resign. Of course if they had honour and integrity Abbotsford would not be facing the critical situations it is.

For Your Information – Mayor Peary, city council and city staff: whether it is a gas tax or property tax it is coming out of taxpayer’s pockets.

It is clear that Abbotsford City Hall has failed, year after year, budget after budget, to act responsibly or with due care for the City of Abbotsford and its taxpayers. When the consequences of their irresponsible actions become unavoidable what is the response?

A proposed gas tax as they seek to avoid responsibility for their previous bad management by hiding the true magnitude of the tax raise needed, in order that they can continue to hold onto their jobs and collect their extravagant salaries. Salaries that the state of Abbotsford’s roads, other lacking infrastructure and finances demonstrate were neither earned nor deserved.

With a mayor, city council and city staff whose actions, over many years, are based on holding onto their jobs and collecting their unmerited salaries taxpayers can place no trust on any of their statements as to the true state the City of Abbotsford is in.

I will be writing to our local MLA’s and the Premier to urge them to say NO to the gas tax and force, at least in this matter, Abbotsford City Hall to answer in some small manner for their actions.

I will also be asking our MLA’s and the Premier, in light of the demonstrated fact that Abbotsford City Hall has been making decisions based not on what the City of Abbotsford needs but on what will allow them to hold onto their jobs and get re-elected and the reality that therefore citizens can place no faith in any statements or claims made as to the actual state of affairs for the City of Abbotsford, to have the Auditor General do a full examination of the financial records and the state of the City of Abbotsford.

It has become clear that this is the only way that the people paying the bills will find out how matters truly stand for the City of Abbotsford.

I urge all other citizens to write, fax, e-mail and call our MLA’s and the Premier to demand that they act responsibly and in the best interests of the citizens of Abbotsford by saying NO to the gas tax and having the Auditor General conduct an examination of the City of Abbotsford and report the true sate of affairs to the citizens of Abbotsford.

It is time to lift the veil of secrecy, open the closed doors and let the citizens of Abbotsford know accurately and truthfully what shape our City is in.