Some things never change.

Every year the City demands we pay more for less service (most noticeably our increasingly invisible police department).

Over four years, our property taxes will have risen by more than 20 per cent. City Council has been playing fast and loose with our money, squandering millions of tax dollars on unnecessary projects such as the reconstruction of Toronto Street, Pine Drive sewers, the construction of many high-maintenance multi-lane highways through residential areas; not to mention wasting money on consultants whose input has probably less value than that of experienced city residents.

It appears that council even expects us to pay tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees to protect them from having to pay for their wrongful actions.

They should be concentrating on the real priorities – road repairs, bylaw enforcement and intelligent planning for future development.

The previous council made a number of poor decisions and, unfortunately, this one failed to reverse such although they had the power to do so.

We obviously need more accountability, an independent ombudsman (not a city employee) an enforceable code of conduct for aldermen, together with a two-year term of office so that unproductive councillors can be replaced before they cause too much damage to our community.

The next municipal election seems a long way away but let us hope that those elected will listen to the people and instigate a commonsense revolution.