Lately we saw municipal councils all over the country raising their quick rent and assessment rates some as much as 100 to 200 percent. Now that they are flush with their new found wealth, most of these municipal councils don't seem to know how to spend it.

From Seremban to Kota Baru we see municipal councils tearing down lamp posts and replacing them with those with a 'flowery' design. Why should they suddenly have the urge to replace good working lamp posts with ones costing about RM8,000 each is anybody's guess.

But my guess is simple. Only by replacing these utilities can someone siphon the money from the municipal's kitty.

But after reading the malaysiakini report Howls of protest over 'nab the dog' contest' on the Selayang Municipal Council's stray dog-catching competition, I must say this idea takes the cake as far mindless spending by a municipal council is concerned.

If this is any indication how our municipal councils are going to spend our hard-earned money from the increase in assessment and quick rent rates, then I am going to register my protest by not paying them at all.

For too long our municipal councillors have not been held accountable for their extravagant expenditure and with each passing year they are getting more and more innovative in their wasteful spending.

The presidents and municipal councillors are appointed and not elected and most of them are more acquainted with rural living rather than urban living. When appointed to their posts, they don't seem to know what their duties entail. The only thing that don't requires any expertise is to simply spend on wasteful and unnecessary projects which at the same time also accrue to them some side income.

Other wasteful expenditure (as in Seremban and Kota Baru) is to remove the existing pavement and pathway tiles and replace them with one of a new design. Some of these pavements, however, are located in the most ridiculous places where perhaps the only ones using them would be cows and goats.

As usual we can shout from the top of our roofs but our pleas for some sanity to prevail will most likely fall on deaf ears.