CNP: Taxpayer Money to Burn

In a recent post of mine Ratepayers Newspaper Insert Disputed by Municipality I gave my readers the opportunity to read the Crowsnest Ratepayers Association communication insert that was placed in our local newspapers last week along with the municipality's rebuttal by way of a pdf file link to their Municipal Facebook site (which has since been taken down along with resident comments (including mine)?), and did so without commentary.

Now this week I see the municipality has responded, once again, to the Ratepayers tiny one page newspaper insert in both our local newspapers with a massive FIVE (5) full pages of newspaper advertising in the Pass Herald and FOUR (4) full pages in the Crowsnest Promoter of their own. It seems the municipality's tune of several months now has changed from "we will no longer advertise in newspapers" to we will now do so, and in an overkill type manner. Like the proverbial "killing a fly with a sledgehammer", extravagantly using our taxpayer dollars in the process.

This begs the question. How much of our taxpayer dollars was spent on this modern day David and Goliath exercise, I wonder? An off the top of my head estimate would be in the range of $10,000. Whereas, the Ratepayers insert, I imagine, cost much less than $500.00.

Mayor, council and administration's use of taxpayer dollars to fight taxpayers in this manner, and to this excess, makes the case in most peoples minds, I would think, that the Ratepayers are right, "we do have a council and administration that is not only out of touch with a majority of the residents they are supposed to represent and serve but obviously out of 'financial control'" too, and therefore they (the Ratepayers) are justified in both having launched a citizens petition and in doing so seeking provincial Municipal Affairs intervention in how we are being (mis)managed.




First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win.