PelhamToday received the following Letter to the Editor from reader Jim Pitt, in response to GENEROUS LISTENING: We literally cannot afford business-as-usual:
After reading Wayne Olsen's latest contribution, "We literally cannot afford business as usual", I was left with a sense of confusion. What exactly would you like the townsfolk to advise you on? You ran for and got the job as Town Councillor yet you propose a series of ideas for us to ponder.
Here's my first "Why". Why did you write this? Take these ideas and make them policy for the Town to adopt. You want to save money, we want to save money; I'm not so sure the Town's staff are interested in saving money. That would mean pay freezes or even staff cuts. I'm O.K. with that.
Maybe the "Why" question should be: Why do we have so many employees making salaries usually associated with pay scales in larger municipalities? Yes, taxes have doubled and so have the number of employees. I once pointed out that, although the town had grown around 20% in ten years, the number of employees had more than doubled. "Why" is that? Only the elected councillors can deal with this. Expecting cost saving from the hired staff is naive.
Jim Pitt
Fonthill