Comments on: Police Budget Exceeds Region’s Spending Cap But Gets Okay Anyway http://niagaraatlarge.com/2009/12/11/police-budget-exceeds-regions-spending-cap-but-gets-okay-anyway/ An Independent Site For News and Commentary Sun, 05 Feb 2012 15:23:31 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: Arnold W. Mooney http://niagaraatlarge.com/2009/12/11/police-budget-exceeds-regions-spending-cap-but-gets-okay-anyway/#comment-59 Fri, 18 Dec 2009 00:51:00 +0000 http://niagaraatlarge.com/?p=301#comment-59 Southall says to contact our members of parliament if we don’t like the money they’re shelling out?
I say perhaps Southall should talk to her force about the evils of greed. After all, contending with it out in public is part of their job.

]]> By: Pat Scholfield http://niagaraatlarge.com/2009/12/11/police-budget-exceeds-regions-spending-cap-but-gets-okay-anyway/#comment-45 Sat, 12 Dec 2009 16:14:13 +0000 http://niagaraatlarge.com/?p=301#comment-45 It is time for serious, major wage reform in the public sector…..and even within unions. Have you every looked at the Sunshine List, those civil servants who make over $100 thousand of taxpayers money? It’s shocking , not to mention extremely time consuming….page after page, etc., etc.

Police chief Wendy Southall in 2008 made over $235,000 including benefits. That’s not to say she isn’t worth it, but a couple of years ago, she made $165,000. Then we all found out NHS CEO Debbie Sevenpifer made over $320 thousand, and many of us projected it will be a race for all public servants to catch up. This should not be the goal; the objective should be to have Sevenpifer’s wages brought down to meet others in Niagara. In 2008 Sevenpifer’s wages jumped $32,000 to over $355,000. To put this in proper perspective….the median income in Niagara is $24,000.

We must stop this insanity. In calculating salarys in Niagara, we should all bear in mind, the cost-of-living is lower than areas like Toronto for instance.

I propose all civil servants making over $200,ooo push themselves away from the trough and take a 10% decrease. Those under should take a wage freeze until we can get the budgets under control. Then, hopefully unions, (which are very necessary, but currently contribute to ever escalating salaries which have a death grip on our economy) will consider slowing down their demands. In other words, as Obama said, “Everyone must have some skin in the game.”

Our government should be courageous and take on necessary wage reform, and at the same time trim unnecessary levels of bureaucracy and empire building.

P.S. Just a note of interest. Did you know the Prime Minister of Canada makes only $310,800….significantly less than CEO Sevenpifer.

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