LOCAL POLICE COSTS ARE RIDICULOUS

Nobody begrudges our police the respect they deserve for often difficult if not dangerous working conditions. That said we can't just continue paying them wages that are so far above what the taxpayers themselves can afford to pay. Today's Waterloo Region Record has this article titled "Rising police salaries spur calls for change". While I was aware that our regional Police budget for 2013 was $135 million what caught my eye in today's article was this quote "The cost per full-time equivalent increased 14 per cent to about $109,000.". Are you kidding me? This includes salaries, pensions and benefits. $109,000 per full-time equivalent??? I'm sorry but teachers salaries are ridiculous and while I agree that either nurses or police should do better than teachers; this is no longer financially viable. All of these groups deserve a solid living wage or better but not to the point where we are basically bribing them to do difficult jobs that their hearts are not into. This is counterproductive for everybody. Police work especially should be a calling and yes they should have lifetime financial security if they suffer a horrendous on the job injury but $100,000 per year plus is overboard.