It will come as no surprise that the proposed two-cent-per-litre gas tax proposed by the City of Abbotsford has nothing to do with local transit.

What the city is looking for is a bailout. The 2009 city budget, delivered during one of the worst recessions in 20 years, included an increase in spending and not one single cut. The city claims it is desperate for money, and intends to get it from you in a gas tax.

Keep in mind that in 2007, before the Plan A referendum, Abbotsford was debt-free, with a projected property tax surplus of $4 million per year.

So what happened to our money?

The answer is in Bruce Beck’s letter to the editor, appearing in the Abbotsford News on July 16.

Mr. Beck seems to be in “lock-step” with David Hull, executive director of the Chamber of Commerce. Ironically, the Chamber of Commerce sent a letter to Premier Gordon Campbell last December urging the province to scrap the “carbon tax.” The chamber stated that a gas tax would be a particularly heavy burden on the farming industry.

A complete turn-around certainly feels hypocritical when the chamber should be calling for the same thing at city hall that the Abbotsford Ratepayers’ Association (ARA) is – fiscal conservatism.

At the end of the day, the city cannot levy a gas tax without provincial approval. The ARA has already sent a formal letter to our local MLAs and the premier’s office, requesting that the province deny any application.

Mr. Beck feels that those of us who “dislike taxes don’t contribute to solving the problem.”

The ARA has offered countless solutions and budget suggestions, but it is an uphill battle. We are faced with politicians like Mr. Beck, who tell us an entertainment centre is being built for a junior hockey team, but then fails to get something as simple as the dressing rooms right. In fact, Mr. Beck was unable to deliver a hockey team. That deal was completed long after he was gone from council. Mr. Beck was also unable to deliver the government money he said was coming from Olympic development funds to help us build Plan A.

So we can thank Mr. Beck for spending our money. He was on the council that saw us go from “debt-free” to a crushing debt that only a gas tax can alleviate.

That’s why we won’t be asking Bruce Beck for solutions to our money problems. He’s already done enough.

Vince Dimanno, ARA president