Dear Editor:

Governments spend other people’s money.

It’s a great game. And when the money supply grows short they raise taxes or borrow upon the backs of future taxpayers.

The Town of Osoyoos is no different. Since the last municipal election a multimillion-dollar fire hall sits on a large empty parking lot on scarce prime land. Just how much will this behemoth really cost over the next 20 years as interest rates begin to rise?

At the very least, the new fire hall could have been built at a reduced cost and then outfitted with solar panels to help offset the energy costs to maintain the building.

Then, based on the census numbers game, Osoyoos taxpayers are on the hook for increased policing costs, a never ending annual expenditure.

Now, much to the surprise of the council members, a building that is more than 50 years old has signs of aging and needs urgent repair, costing $660,000 and followed by destruction and replacement for another $3.5 million.

Give your collective heads a shake. This is not your money to spend. This money is extracted from citizens of Osoyoos in the form of taxes and licenses. And each year taxes “creep” up, punctuated by bigger jumps for policing or the fire hall or now a municipal hall.

Tourism and retirement are the only significant industries in Osoyoos. Both groups are, one might say, just passing through.

Raise taxes enough and the population base will shrink. Low wage earners that service these two Osoyoos industries struggle to find affordable accommodation.

Young people are looking to live elsewhere and will vote with their feet, whilst the median age of Osoyoos continues to be amongst Canada’s oldest.

Governments are intended to organize public services such as drinking water, sewage, garbage disposal, roads, sidewalks, parks, schools, and policing. The four councillors and the mayor are elected to represent the interest of the voters.

These people are subject to another election this year.

The bureaucrats on salary with benefits and pension paid by taxpayers are entrenched by contracts.

Nevertheless they are called “public servants” for a reason. They are supposed to SERVE not be served.

Look outside your spendthrift box.

Why not raze the municipal hall and bring in portables? Schools, hospitals and industries all use these temporary structures and sometimes for years. At the end of the day those portables can be turned into much needed housing for farm itinerants.

Set a fiscal example with a dose of humility. Ask yourself if this is how you would manage your own bank accounts.

A loan for $660,000 now for a new town hall, then level that and borrow another $3.5 million to rebuild in a year or three just as interest rates are rising? It seems foolhardy to me.

Bobbie Fischer

Osoyoos, B.C.

Editor’s note: The consultant’s report estimates the cost of maintaining the current town hall for five years and of building a new town hall. Council has only received the report as information and has not yet made any decision on how to proceed.