The following is in regard to the recent article “Proposed hiring freeze shot down” by Kristen Douglas in the Feb. 25 edition of the Campbell River Mirror.For the record I would like to thank Councillor Ziggy Stewart for bringing forward a motion to implement a hiring freeze at City Hall. He may not have been successful in gaining support for this motion from his fellow Councillors; but, he has been successful in increasing the awareness that a major revenue problem exists in the City’s budget. Hard decisions are going to have to made by council to compensate for $1.4 million of lost tax revenue from Catalyst along with the continued operating cost increases in replacing infrastructure and maintaining existing services. If the city’s administration is unwilling to present budget cost reduction options to council, then council needs to take the bull by the horns and freeze operating cost increases before we really get in trouble. As council is no doubt aware, the majority of the citizens of Campbell River are not in support of further tax increases, especially under the present fragile economic environment. Council simply needs to focus on maintaining existing services/infrastructure as best they can. On a very positive side, I do believe that council is actively searching for alternate revenue sources that may help to decrease some of the city’s cost increases; but, please ….. not another Cruise Ship Terminal. One question I do have for council is: are we actually making any additional money from our runway investment at the airport? At least to offset the capital cost? Jim Forsyth