Sustainable Government

What is “sustainable Government”?

I believe that just like the environment we need to be looking at the sustainability of our governments. I find that no matter what we do or how hard we work, our taxes always go up, and government spending always goes up. It seems that unless you work FOR the government in this town, your wages do not go up as fast as the spending or tax increases. Showing that this rate of growth in government is UNsustainable.

There are things government is mandated to do, and that most people accept, like maintaining roads, and infrastructure. Sadly our abilty to do these things is being undermined by some very high wages at our city hall. According to the 2013 Statement of Financial Information the CAO makes $178,710…over $6000 more then the top advisor at the White House. Find the full statement here on page 7 http://www.esquimalt.ca/files/PDF/Municipal_Hall/Finance/2013_Statement_of_Financial_Information.pdf

Our tiny municipality does not need nor can we afford to be paying these insanely high wages. The argument many make for amalgamation is that it will reduce costs. We dont need to lose the governing authority of Esquimalt to reduce these wages. Our Council makes much less then this, it is not council or mayoral wages that need to be cut. It is these high municipal middle and upper management wages that MUST come down to make Esquimalt affordable.

I ask you, do we need to pay the top Admin in Esquimalt more then the top advisor to USA’s President Obama? Do we need to be paying ANYONE over $100k a year? I think not, though I would not touch the emergency service salaries, I would freeze them. I believe we need a hard cap on these gross salaries that come out of the pockets of homeowners, or our businesses, of our seniors and young families trying to make a go of it in the most beautiful city in BC?

For our government to be truly economically sustainable, we need a hard cap on salaries in our township. I believe $100K a year is more then enough to have a decent life in Esquimalt. On that kind of salary you can afford some of the best houses in our township, have a very generous savings account, afford wonderful vacations, save for your own retirement and engage in our community through all sorts of different ways. If these wages keep rising, and without a cap you can guarantee they will, our taxation will become unsustainable. Our seniors who have worked their whole lives and live on a fixed income, will soon be pushed out of their ownhomes because of the increasing taxation needed to fund these grossly high wages. Eventually the requirement to pay these salaries will have to cut into the services and infrastructure we expect our government to provide.

What do you think? Should we have a wage cap on municipal salaries?

I would love to know what you think. Send me an email at Votejoshsteffler@gmail.ca

I hope this Nov.15th I can count on you to vote Josh Steffler for municipal council

Debt Solutions

Hello, as you know by now I am very concerned with out $63,000,000,000 debt in BC. I am tired of listening to the BC NDP say they know how to be effective stewards of the economy all the while ignoring the fact they doubled our debt by the end of their term. I am tired of the orwellian speech of the BC Liberals saying they have kept spending down and debt under control for their term all the while doubling our debt again. With a 20 year history of BC NDP and BC Liberal incompetence it is time for some new ideas and some old ideas to tackle this debt that is killing our economy and robbing the wealth from the people of BC.

As an independent I have some ideas I can express that the big political parties will never let see the light of day. Too often do we see debt increase while our MLAs reward themselves with high salaries and golden pensions. Here are 5 ideas I would like to bring to the legislature if I am elected.

1. ELIMINATE MLAs GOLDEN PENSIONS- I believe that since the MLAs are the one who have gotten us into debt, they should not be rewarded with a pension better then our own seniors and veterans. Let the MLAs use the same pension system as all of our seniors and veterans until the BC debt is absolutely eliminated. MLAs make approximately $100,000 a year, the BC population should not have to contribute to a pension plan for MLAs before they contribute to their own retirement plans. I know people will say that MLAs will vote against this Private Members Bill, but you have to ask yourself, will the constituents back this bill? Most people I talk to DO support this, so the MLAs would be voting against the wishes of the people they are supposed to represent, showing their callousness and greed to the people of BC, finally showing some honesty.

2. MANDATE A 10% SURPLUS EVERY BUDGET AND APPLY IT EXCLUSIVELY TO THE DEBT This is an easy Private Members Bill, that most citizens support when I talk to them. The government should NOT be spending more then they bring in in a time when BC citizens are being asked to accept tax hikes and service cuts. This willl encourage innovation and streamlining in government services and prevent dishonest spending promises during election campaigns. Even children understand you cannot tax and spend yourself out of debt.

3. MANDATE A PAY CUT FOR MLAs FOR EVERY BUDGET THAT PROPOSES DEFICIT SPENDING. I believe that MLAs should not be giving themselves pay raises when they are spending more then bringing in. As citizens we do not get raises for losing money at our jobs so why should politicians? Again I believe the people will support the bill and be able to force their MLAs to vote in favour instead of voting for self interest.

4. EXPLORE A DEBT JUBILEE Many people do not know what this would look like or even what a debt jubilee is. I think we can explore debt forgiveness in a responsible way that looks at the massive unpayable debt and revisit an idea that is over 1000 years old.

5. LABEL THE DEBT AS AN ODIOUS DEBT. The debt was incurred by political parties and is not MY debt. I never had a say in the expanded debt, and no MLA ever asked my permission to pile this debt on me or my children. We the people of BC can place this debt back squarely on the political parties who incurred this debt, the BC liberals and the BC NDP.

I know these ideas sound exotic and new. I fully believe we need some drastic action immediately to tackle this debt before it becomes completely out of control and impossible to pay back. The current crop of politicians are being rewarded for the complete mismanagement of our economy and explosion of debt, and the time of MLAs getting a free ride off the backs of taxpayers is OVER.

This May 14th please vote Josh Steffler and help me help ALL of BC.

Josh Steffler – Liberty now, Prosperity for the future.