It’s that time of year again -- municipal budget time. And even though the town tax rate is actually down thanks to some quality budgeting by staff, those pesky assessments translates into a tax increase for property owners.
As proposed, the increase is only 2.8 per cent -- but if only it were the only increase local families were subject to. Housing prices are back on the rise -- though not to the stratospheric highs they were when those assessments that cause us to dig a little deeper now were made. Food prices continue to inch up, cents at a time, and gasoline is hovering around a dollar a litre. Water rates are likely to rise as well.
All these basic needs in our lives are slowly but steadily on the rise, chipping away at our hard-earned dollars, making it difficult to save for that proverbial rainy day that financial experts suggest we save for. Out of all the increases the average family faces, why is it that only our salaries don’t seem to be on the rise?
We complain now, but deep down inside, we know things inevitably get more expensive, whether it be potato chips, new cars, houses or higher education. At least there is a cold comfort in the fact that our town made the effort to tighten its municipal belt to ease the pain.
Unfortunately, nothing can or will ease the sorrow for the family and friends of Vu Pham, the OPP constable murdered near Seaforth last week. It is easy, sometimes, to forget just how often our police officers put their lives on the line -- whether it be pursuing a speeder, entering a suspected drug lab, or encountering a scene of domestic violence, as Pham likely was on that country road last Monday.
We are guilty of being wrapped up in issues of police contracts, visibility, and the number of cruisers parked outside a station -- and forgetting just what these officers are required   to do when called upon by the community.
But the officers themselves likely never do. When hired by a force, they are asked of their preference for funeral services should that dreadful day arrive all too soon -- not what most of us would expect with the offer of a job. And, even though wearing a bullet-proof vest is part and parcel of a uniform, the fact that it protects the heart, the soul of one’s being, belies the daily routine of getting dressed for work.
And, perhaps most poignant, the gathering of officers from forces far and wide to honour the fallen via processional march -- a scene which played out twice last week, in Wingham and in Mississauga, for a member of the Peel Regional Police, who died while responding to an emergency call -- shows the respect and sense of brotherhood that comes with putting one’s life on the line.
For Pham, with a young family and what should have been a  long life ahead, his inevitability came far too soon.
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