This editorial first appeared in Burnaby Now.
Politicians making a bad decision about the future can be galling; a board of elected officials reaching into the past to wrong a right is infuriating.
The majority of the Metro Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»Regional District board voted to give departing members a retroactive to 2007. To their credit, Burnaby’s representatives, councillors Colleen Jordan and Sav Dhaliwal, voted against the costly plan.
But they were outvoted by their colleagues – and that leaves taxpayers on the hook for nearly half a million dollars.
The $498,000 lump sum leaves taxpayers shelling out for today and yesterday.
This getaway payday arrives at a time when private sector pensions seem like relics from the era of three-martini lunches.
And despite assurances from the Canada Pension Plan investment board CEO, many young Canadians have little confidence CPP will still be alive when their working lives end.
We get where the vote is coming from. We’re not saying it’s easy to be part of the Metro Van board.
Board members routinely endure long meetings, navigate conflicting interests and weather the occasional scathing editorial while ensuring the air is clear and the drinking water is clean.
But that’s what they signed up for. This cookie jar approach to economics – and the defence of it – is beneath them.
If they were concerned only with the next group of board members, the allowance wouldn’t have been retroactive. If they weren’t trying to take home more money, they wouldn’t be taking home more money.
Municipal politicians are very familiar with working groups, citizen boards, third-party information reports, alternative approval processes, referendums and other techniques that take decisions out of their hands.
But when it comes to money, they decided to be hands-on.
We hope the next board is hands off, especially when it comes to our pockets.
