Councillor David Merrithew says he won’t apologize for recent comments he made against police and fire.
In a recent newspaper article, Merrithew said the responders make too much money, and called them “greedy.”
But he says he was simply doing his job as councillor.
“This is what we’re hired to do in the City of Saint John as councillors, we’re hired to give our opinions. I think I’ve done my job speaking my opinion to try and protect the taxpayers of the city, and I’m not going to stand down from those comments,” he said during Monday night’s council meeting.
He says he is standing by his comments, and still believes the amount of money police and fire make compared to the average Saint Johner is “unfair.”
“I don’t think it’s fair that the mean income for a city of Saint John family is about $52,000…and they are asked, if not forced, to pay unreasonable wage and benefit increases,” he said.
He says responder’s wages also make up a big chunk of the city’s budget, as well as police and fire’s internal budgets.
“Is it fair that the two gentlemen that are running the police and fire department right now have to content with their budgets? 90 per cent of those budgets now stand for wages and benefits. They’ve got 10 per cent to buy bullets and gasoline,” he said.
The Saint John Police Commission sent a letter to council citing a code of conduct breach, and asking that Merrithew be removed from his role as Chair of the Finance Committee.
Council chose to receive the letter with only three councillors opposing: Greg Norton, John Mackenzie and Gary Sullivan, meaning there won’t be further action.
