Here in the little Town of Orangeville (pop. 26,000 people a per our population sign on the way into town) our illustrious leaders choose to give themselves a whopping big salary increase.

From a leadership stand points: this does not bode well!!

In stories regarding the issue it was stated that information pertaining to salaries is private and confidential, but how it is that I can go on the internet and find out how much money the Mayor of Oshawa, Pickering, Hamilton, etc.?

I would like to point out that the city of Pickering has a population of 126,000 people and the Mayor makes around $68,000. This would be a fulltime position.

In our case, we are a town and not a city and our Mayor (who is never around for our main events) is a part-time mayor. The councils over the yeas have tried numerous times to attain City status and have not been able to have it approved, thus, we still have a volunteer fire department.

It is very disconcerting that while the rest of us sweat it out and worry about our jobs, our dwindling investments, deal with the pressures of telling our children, no, we can't buy that because we can't afford it, wondering if we are going to be able to pay all the bills and keep our homes, you and your council will be able to ride this recession out quite comfortably on the backs of the constituents of this small town.

To add insult to injury, you are paid for the Mayors Job, the position on the county board, which just got a raise, and of which 1/3 of your income is not taxable, as well as being paid from the Police Services Board, I guess you won't have to worry!

I for one am looking into what can be done to rectify this situation.

To the people of Orangeville: I implore you to get involved, write letters, put on sandwich boards and show your discontent with the handling of our tax money.

Let us not throw this by the wayside and allow this to go on any longer. Let's become the Erin Brockivich's of our community. Let's show the council we are not going to stand for this anymore.
K. and D. Edwards
Orangeville

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RE: The new bylaw for pay increases for the Mayor and Council members:

First: At the next council meeting, the newly enacted bylaw should be rescinded. THAT would show true leadership.

Second: The Mayor and Council should take a long look at the population makeup of our town. There are singles, households with and without children and seniors. How many from these groups get any significant pay raise? Have not the Mayor and Council incurred property tax increases (with more to come thanks to the MPAC assessment), water, hydro, home heating, food, car fuel, etc. increases?

As leadership for our town, please don't use the analogy that because another municipality pays a different rate, we have to do so in order to attract the best candidates. We assumed we already had them!

As a counter-point, the electorate wouldn't be opposed to increases as long as they were based on the cost of living. But, that is the maximum.
Disappointed in leadership
Orangeville