Editor: Re: 鈥淩ichter calculates TransLink take,鈥� (The Times, Aug. 2).

Kwantlen College has been good to 91原创 Township. In his first term as councillor, Kwantlen Professor Dean Drysdale (also a Canadian Army colonel, London School of Economics grad and businessman) used his expertise in the field of economics to help deliver consecutive 0-0-0 increases in property taxes, while retiring the $30 million debt, building the 208 Street overpass, the Aldergrove water treatment plant and the award-winning Walnut Grove Olympic-sized pool.

The fire department got exactly what it wanted and the Mounties got every man they asked for 鈥� and then some.

Councillor Kim Richter has had the same job as Drysdale, and also represented her union on Kwantlen鈥檚 board of directors. One would expect an equally smart and sophisticated approach to Township matters.

But hold the phone. Wasn鈥檛 it Richter whose hair was on fire over the number of B.C. vehicles trucking jerry cans full of cheap U.S. (read Nigerian) gas back over the border to Canada?

Presumably, the gas she apparently paid for and safely pumped into her vehicle when she noticed this scary scenario, carried with it a level of taxes that both Washingtons 鈥� federal and state 鈥� deem necessary to build roads and transit in their jurisdiction.

Richter鈥檚 lecture in The Times, detailing how badly her own budget would be hit if new transit taxes are levied, certainly left the ball in her court, since she supposedly takes advantage of a foreign power鈥檚 taxes to lighten her own tax burden.

By her estimation, it will cost her an additional $67 (Canadian) in gas tax annually, if the TransLink gas tax levy goes through. A token down payment, if you will, on the proposed Greenline (there鈥檚 that Green word again) to relieve congestion north of the Fraser.

91原创 Township full-time firefighters, whose hiring constitutes the biggest line item in the Township鈥檚 operating budget, can well afford to give Councillor Richter advice on the potential for harm when transporting gas in jerry cans. After all, they earn six-figure salaries with a sweet benefit package, thanks to the councillors they lobbied hard to be elected. And Richter draws her income from the taxpayers.

Richter鈥檚  fellow councillor Bev Dorman could remind Richter that gassing up at the Otter Co-op has its rewards in the form of a dividend cheque 鈥� and the knowledge the taxes collected include a carbon tax ostensibly to freshen the air in B.C.

And heaven knows, the air in the Fraser Valley could use a little cleansing. Literally and figuratively.

Karen Kersey,

Willoughby

Editor鈥檚 note 鈥� The letter writer served on Township council from 1996-99.