Dear Editor, I know my comments will see a small portion of citizens reply with negative responses, regarding the federal government’s decision to cancel the tax-free portion of pay for our mayor and council. Our mayor and council earn every penny they make. Our mayor gets $90,000 to $95,000 a year. Brown attends to City business and represents the City at untold number of events. He sells this city and citizens to all levels of government. His job is not an 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. job. He works most nights and weekends. He can be seen at all sort of events and fundraisers. Most of us could not stand his gruelling schedule. He has been doing this for more than seven years. Our city council is part time. All have full-time jobs, be it as a homemaker or doing work outside the home. I do not know how much they are paid, but it certainly is not enough for the work they do for this city. I have lived here since 1991. This the best mayor and council, by far, in those years. The city has grown from a sleepy little town to a city of 70,000 people. We would be hard pressed to find a better team than we have at city hall. By all means, we have problems – most due to the fast pace of growth. The team is doing a great job, in difficult times. Nothing is perfect. If it was, we would be living in the perfect world. The deputy mayor has stated we should have someone else decide pay and benefits, not city council. He is right, it should be a group of citizens from Airdrie. Not decided by the average of other cities – they do not have the same responsibilities or workload. We can find some pretty smart and responsible citizens, right here. We should support city council, not criticize them. Ed Skelding Sagewood
