Post by John Zeger on Sept 9, 2006 9:02:57 GMT -5
In response to the recent fire at the Landmark II building Kelowna fire chief Rene Blanleil has put out the call for more firefighters. In an interview with the Capital News published on Aug. 30, 2006 Blanleil expressed his concern that department staffing levels are not keeping up with the growth of the city. He said "It's getting to be a challenge to maintain those safety levels with the city growing like crazy. I'm not trying to put pressure on city council. We're doing our job and doing it well but manpower is going to become an issue in the near future."
I think that everyone believes that fire safey is important and that our fire department should be adequately staffed, but someone will have to pay for this need that has been created by the ongoing growth of the city. Although developers are required to contributed funds for the building of roads and parks through the development cost charges (DCC's) that they must pay in order to proceed with a particular development, they are not required to contribute to some other costs of growth such as police and fire protection. The costs of these needs are borne entirely by the residents through their property taxes. So who ends up paying for the bulk of the costs of growth from which only a minority in the city benefit? You guessed it -- it's you and I!
I think that everyone believes that fire safey is important and that our fire department should be adequately staffed, but someone will have to pay for this need that has been created by the ongoing growth of the city. Although developers are required to contributed funds for the building of roads and parks through the development cost charges (DCC's) that they must pay in order to proceed with a particular development, they are not required to contribute to some other costs of growth such as police and fire protection. The costs of these needs are borne entirely by the residents through their property taxes. So who ends up paying for the bulk of the costs of growth from which only a minority in the city benefit? You guessed it -- it's you and I!