North Cowichan - Loren Duncan, back in July 2013, in this newspaper, wrote about the subject of salaries, at the CVRD, as causing consternation and public hand wringing. He described how we got into the escalating pay scales that are totally out of control.
The main cause, as he described it, was that the CVRD was using other towns as comparables and so eventually, everybody was chasing each other up the pay scale.Loren Duncan admitted he was part of the problem and admitted he was therefore challenged to be part of the solution.North Cowichan's three directors on the CVRD, Mayor Lefebure, and councillors Ruth Hartmann and Barb Lines offered no support for North Cowichan's taxpayers.Then in November 2013, the CVRD directors decided to form a committee to review salaries. The problem was that the committee was going to follow exactly the same process that got us into the salary mess in the first place.Dir. Ian Morrison went so far as to say salary levels wasn't the issue - it's the process he revels in. If the directors follow the same process, how can you expect a different result?Fast forward to August 2014.The CVRD directors have decided to do nothing - in other words, the outrageous salaries are just fine. And while the directors have their hands in the taxpayer's pocket, they have recommended that taxpayers should foot the bill for their family MSP, extended health and dental benefits.They forgot the purpose of the review was to lower costs for taxpayers, not add new costs.Well folks, your directors do not want to take direction from those who elected them.It is time to replace them in November with people who will listen to you.Don SwiatlowskiNorth Cowichan