Dear Editor:
In the article Spending criticized in the Nov. 14 Summerland Review, Mayor Perrino acknowledged that the city is finding it difficult to control expenses, in part, because of the constant demands of public service unions.
Her solution is what all politicians speak everywhere: “we have to do more to get growth.”
Maybe it will come, maybe not. The near future almost guarantees it will be closer to the not side.
What is left unsaid is the elephant in the room. The municipality needs to be able to control its labour costs.
It can defer capital spending — not popular but I am deferring that 55-inch TV at my house. This will be a huge and bitter fight. But not doing anything is like the fox guarding the chicken coop. It is only a matter of time before the fox consumes every chicken.
Until local politicians can control their own costs you do not have a city. What you have is a cartel of public service unions and monopolies using the local government as their private bagman.
Just for fun, do you think a replacement Summerland school system outside of the reach of the B.C. Teachers’ Union, funded by the local taxpayers, would not be a competitive advantage to get the growth Mayor Perrino would like?
The old ways are not sustainable.
Rick Hanson
Summerland