The Nasty Budget Politics of Two

By Special Editor Dr. S.

"Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly, and applying the wrong remedies."

-- Groucho Marx

In December 2006 Councillor Kim Richter wrote this letter to her own website entitled, “Don’t Dare Blame Tax Hikes On Firefighters” which was posted on her website. She made some very valid points on the need for full-time Fire Fighters, calling it “a service that we all rely on in this community, especially the elderly and anyone needing emergency services.”

Richter also explains the lengthy process that council, the Fire Department and an independent consultant went through, in order to make the commitment to move to a full time system. She speaks to it here:

“They determined that the cost of full time firefighters in the Township would equal a 2% increase in the Township’s base tax rate for each fire hall that was brought onto full time status. They put together a plan of how many halls should be full-time and when they should go “online”. They then took this plan and brought it to the public, Richter explained the “very public process” as:

“They went to malls throughout the Township with complete information on costs, timelines, and budget implications. They had flip charts and questionnaires. They asked Township taxpayers if this was something they wanted and something they could financially support. They spent many hours talking to many people from all walks of life and from all corners in this community.”

And as we all now know, the answer was… Yes. As Richter says, “The answer that came back to Council from this very public process was a resounding “Yes – Do it”. In fact, the independent consultant that assisted the Township’s Fire Department throughout the public consultation process commented in his final written report (which is a matter of public record) that he has never seen stronger or more unified public support for an initiative like this. He said it was abundantly clear that this community supported the proposed graduated move to full-time fire service.”

We applaud the fact that Richter had such concern over the efforts of all the people involved in the process, “I think your editorial (The Langley Times) belittles these efforts because all of the people involved in this process, whether firefighter or taxpayer, genuinely care about their community and are genuinely concerned about this important aspect of public safety.” She also acknowledges “They know it’s not free.”

We also applaud all of council as they “decided to listen to the Fire Department, to the Consultant, and to the public. As a group, they decided to move in a graduated manner towards fulltime fire service.” They made this choice knowing the facts and having their eyes wide open to the fact that, as Richter put it, “This clearly meant a 2% tax increase in each year that a new fire hall was brought into fulltime service.”

We applaud Kim Richter's VERBAL support for the Full Time Fire department. And the fact that Richter even went so far to VERBALLY commit to a tax increase, to ensure the growth of this department, as she said: “This is definitely a tax increase that I and the taxpaying public support. I have never disputed that.”

BUT, Councillor Kim Richter voted against the budget that year. The same budget that would provide for fill-time fire services and that THE PEOPLE overwhelmingly supported.

Once again, we are now left with the question of where Councillor Kim Richter's verbal support for community needs has gone? It seemed clear, yet we see Kim Richter voting to entertain the idea of lengthening the full-time fire fighter expansion in Walnut Grove, to as much as a six year window. We see the finance committee she is he Vice Chair of putting forward recommendations for a .93% tax increase that cannot lead to anything but a budget deficit (which you cannot do under the Community Charter) in the first year of a 3 year plan. Where did the 2% go that Richter was willing to pay in order to properly fund the Fire Department? Is not the newly proposed “review” of the Fire Department that Richter personally recommended to the new finance committee and then to council, not just another attempt to pull out of the original commitment she had made? Is her wish that the outcome would be to put off full-time fire expansion indefinitely? There is not a review of the RCMP suggested, so why has the Township Fire Department been singled out?

From the rhetoric and her recent website post we can see that this new budget will not be approved by Councillor Kim Richter. To post a statement that a 5% tax increase has been approved by Township Council is unethical at best.

We leave you with some words of wisdom from Councillor Kim Richter herself...

“It is wrong to blame the financial problems currently faced by the Township on the firefighters. They have done nothing to deserve to be the scapegoats. All they ever wanted was to provide a safer community and they took a very reasonable and affordable approach to doing so.”

-- Councillor Kim Richter

“Yes, fulltime fire fighting is a significant cost driver in the Township’s budget. We all knew that it would be.”

-- Councillor Kim Richter

“The enemy here is not each other - it's inaction. We need to get on the same page fast or the Township will suffer."

-- Councillor Kim Richter

Really Kim? So then why this inaccurate rant that was posted at 4:57pm on Tuesday, March 24, 2009 and transcribed from your cellphone call from the 2nd floor of the Township Facility's parking area DIRECTLY after the budget meeting had ended? And why wouldn't you put your name on it as the author who provided the transcription? Who are the true enemies here? Once again you are ordering from the menu, but you are refusing to pay the bill.