Editor,

The recent budget cuts prepared by the current elected school trustees and school board management shows that they are totally unqualified in decision making to produce a balanced budget, making cuts in all the wrong places.

Why?

The following figures are from the yearly audited financial statements of the ÐÔÊӽ紫ý school district.

In 2023, the total wages was $678,157,577 for the year; $381,921,640 was for employees earning over $75,000 per year, or 56.3% of total wages.

In 2022, the total wages was $644,055,721 for the year; $345,889,933 was for employees earning over $75,000 per year, or 53.7% of total wages.

Total wages for 2023 increased by $34,101,856, or 5.29% over total wages for 2022.

One employee’s total yearly wage was $212,874 in 2022 and the same employee wage was $242,666 in 2023, which is an increase of $29,792 or 13.9% in one year.

Totally unacceptable.

These figures show that all employees in the ÐÔÊӽ紫ý school district are well paid.

Instead of this board making cuts to services, instead they should have put a freeze on all employee wages.

Time to bite the bullet and freeze wages for two years immediately.

From a taxpayer point of view, ÐÔÊӽ紫ý taxpayers can no longer pay these outrageous wages.

Joe Sawchuk, Duncan