BC Municipal Spending Watch - Poor Grades for the Township of Langley Mayor and Council

A report was released today by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business ranking 152 municipalities in BC on operational spending (which includes costs such as policing, parks and transportation), but does not include capital expenditures such as infrastructure projects. "It gave the worst marks to Langley Township for accelerating its expenditures by 50 per cent over that decade, although even with the highest pace of growth its per-person output was lower than average, at $1,388." https://vancouversun.com/news/politics/b-c-s-largest-cities-on-a-spending-spree-for-last-decade-report

The idea that The Township of Langley has escalated their spending by 50% over the last ten years is the perfect marker for a need of change in leadership, and it is a huge part of the decision that helped me to decide to run for Council this year.

In 2011 Mayor Froese ran on a slogan "It's about respect for taxpayers". In my opinion, this was just a political slight of hand and we have now seen that he not only does not respect our tax dollar (or us), but further he has absolutely no plan to stop the out of control spending growth. The fact that we have gone to full time staffing at some of our fire halls is no excuse for this mess. Mayor Froese saying that is really just insulting to us, the taxpayer, as well as to the fine men and women who put their lives on the line daily protecting and serving our Community. It is not the Firefighter's fault that this Mayor and Council cannot spend or plan wisely!

I've heard from this Council, countless times, that increasing density will lower our taxes by increasing the tax base. This may actually be true if there was a comprehensive plan on how to achieve that goal, but this Council does not appear to have one. For that matter I have heard nothing from the Mayor or the Councilors that always follow his lead, about coming up with a plan. As a taxpayer in this Community I find that unacceptable and instead of just complaining about being treated with such disrespect I'm running to sit on Council so I can be a voice of reason - a voice for your family and voice for change in the way we do business in the Township.

First thing is first - growth has to be tied to an economic plan that works. No more of this shoot from the hip attitude that our Mayor displays. It's obvious now (and to some of us always was) that simply handing out building permits to anyone who asks is not going to help our Community and in fact is going to cost us all immensely. A properly executed plan should see development grow along side our infrastructure and doesn't have to increase the tax burden on the taxpayer.

I have no problem with growth and development in Langley, in fact I encourage it. However, I am not wiling to sit back and watch as Council uses us to subsidize new developments without fixing the problems they've already created, let alone creating more!

~ Michelle Connerty

#buildabetterlangley