Dear editor:
I don’t normally write letters to the local paper, in fact I never have before, but I feel compelled to comment on the brouhaha regarding the mayor and councillor’s expenses and the letters from certain losers from the last civic election.
First of all, I applaud anyone who is in public service, in this case our mayor and councillors. I think they have a tough job balancing all the competing interests. Compared to jobs in the private sector, they are not overly paid and they don’t have rich benefits.
Secondly, they spend a great deal of time in evenings and weekends attending various meetings and public functions when the rest of us are at home watching TV or spending time with people we choose. Most of the events they attend at no public expense, using their own vehicles. I certainly do not begrudge them charging reasonable expenses for any trips.
In the case of the mayor’s trip to Ottawa, for which expenses were billed under $300, I would say that is a pretty low cost for some significant potential benefit to the town. If he would have travelled to Airdrie to meet the MP it could have been just as expensive.
I fully support the mayor and councillors billing expenses for town-related business. I also don’t think every resident needs to scrutinize every expense account. There are guidelines and, as long as they are within the guidelines, we need to let them get on with the important business of running the town and not be bogged down in petty politics. There are a lot bigger expenses and decisions that require their attention.
This kind of criticism is a tempest in a teapot, and it’s making a mountain out of a molehill. There, I’ve run out of clichés to describe what I think of this issue.
Mayor and councillors, you have my permission to expense reasonable costs for town-related business.
Ed Arneson
