4 - Friday, November 5, 1993 - North Shore News WY taxed to death, dissident group charges Trevor Lautens GARDEN OF BIASES A MANAGERIALLY inept and weak-willed council running a bloated, overpaid administration and commit- ting major costly blunders on the backs of stressed taxpayers and despairing businessmen, presided over a politically ambitious mayor who deftly stage- manages council meetings to stifle controversy. That, says a small bui potent ginger group of frustrated dissi- dents, describes West Vancouver, The group, the self-styled hard core of the short-lived West Vancouver Civic Association, is backing several council and school board candidates in the Nov. 20 election, broadly demanding lower taxes and smarter spending — and representatives who have the guts to say ‘‘no’’ to special-interest groups. The group tried in vain — can- vassing about 10 people —- to find someone to challenge Mayor Mark Sager, All declined, citing their own business interests, and Sager, unopposed, will be acclaimed for asecond mayoral term. Three of the original group are running for council: Jim Hogan, Brice Macdougall, and Ron Baldry. The rump group remaining also endorses Margot Furk, a current and outspoken member of the school doard, and looks favorably firemen run businesses on the side. Brown said that municipal gov- ernment is “the biggest business in West Vancouver.” He rhetorically asked: Who's running it — the mayor and council, or the civic administra- tion? Smith was a school board member for the eight years 1982- 90 and chaired the finance com- mittee, where he used his tight- budget philosophy to pull the board from the North Shore Union Board of Health, saved money from the $120,000 a year it was costing for each school nurse, and screwed down budget rises to less than the rate of inflation. And, he declared, even his eight years were two years too long. ITALIAN STYLING LEATHER SOFA Serving the municipality Shoutdn't be seen as “a job for life.’ Catchpole said: ‘This is the only municipality that has no controversy” at municipal hall meetings. The real meeting is held behind closed doors where agreement, movers and seconders are ham- mered out and, if controversy should inadvertently break out at the public meeting, the mayor adjourns the session to smooth out the matter, Catchpole claimed, The group cited three major municipal blunders: © The Gertrude Lawson house. The municipality bought it for $1.2 million, less a family dona- tion, four years ago, and turned it over to the museum and archives association, With @ total of almost $2 mil- lion in costs and foregone tax into it, the house still isn’t open to the public — and the young municipality's ‘tarchives,”’ old photos, could be better displayed in a school foyer, seen by more people, and cost nothing. @ The 19th Street park. The idea of a teahouse, which Catchpole said Sager picked up on a Califor- nia visit, was hotly rejected by area residents, and the property, bought for $750,000, will now be an unneeded park, again with tax revenues foregone. © The library extension. This $5.5 million project resulted in highly controversial architecture — which should have been put out to mostly ITALIAN STYLING LEATHER SOFA Higher back coniemporary sofa, 100% top grain tender, since West Vancouver boasts some of the very best ar- chitects in the province, Catchpole said — and without adding a single parking space, and barely satisfying the wheelchair access code. The picture the group drew of the ‘real’? West Vancouver wasn't pleasant. The tax burden is crushing: Smith’s municipal taxes are $12,000, Catchpole’s $9,000, and Brown’s $4,500. At the very least, the group's indictment of the present ad- ministration makes the West Vancouver elections a lot more interesting — and, perhaps, a po- litical watershed. leather, solid hardwood frame, lifetime warranty on scan {tame construction. Matching loveseat and chair available. Choice of colours available. LEATHER SOFA ON SALE NOW. 100% top grain leather, solid hardwood frame. Lifetime warranty on frame construction. Matching loveseat and chair available. id LEATHER SOFA ON SALE NOW .. on Allan Williams, former B.C. attorney-general now returning to municipal politics in West Van- couver where he began his career. For school trustee, the group endorses Clive Bird and Michael MacDougall. The three remaining hard-core survivors of the disbanded West Vancouver Civic Association, largely the brainchild of Ambleside businessman Chuck Walker, are also experienced businessmen: John Catchpole, former Woodward’s executive William G. Brown, and Mike Smith. In a wide-ranging interview this week, the three Jisted major griev- ances against .the present municipal government: ® West Vancouver gross taxes, according to Brown's detailed analysis, have risen 227% since 1984, @ Salaries and expenses for municipal employees totalled $27.3 million in 1992. @ Only about $6 million of that amount was paid to employees earning under $35,000. According to a list provided by Brown, about 450 municipal employees were paid $35,000 or more, with many in the $50,000 bracket or higher, ranging up to $107,568 for municipal manager Doug Allan. ® In particular, Smith called the West Vancouver Fire Department “a ridiculous situation.”’ And Catchpole, noting Brown’s figures showing that the fire department budget of about $6.5 million is only $55,000 fess than the police department’s, which he thinks needs expanding, said $999 org ete ND OM AVAILABLE [3 [AFFERENT EUROPEAN TAPESTRY COLORS AVAILABLE IN 10 DIFFERENT EUROPEAN TAPESTRY COLORS OFF Store Wide VANCOUVER 1075 Mainland Street Vancouver, 8.C. 687-0682 (acruss from J. Coltins Fumiture) {OPEN FRI TILE PM) ITALIAN STYLING LEATHER SECTIONAL Contemporary styling leather sectional, lifetime warranty on frame construction. Includes all 3 pieces. Choices of colours available COMPLETE 3 PC. 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