1) 2010 City of WL Budget
Last Thursday, Mayor Cook did her usual "Town Hall" radio show with Dale Taylor and the subject of consulting with the public on the 2010 City of WL Budget came up and she admitted that she would like to see the final adoption of the budget delayed for 2 weeks pending a final meeting with the public on the City's 2010 budget however I have informed her that it would be better to adopt the budget at Tuesday's Council meeting, given 2 Public Consultation Meetings' on the City 2010 Budget has taken place already and then lay out the City's budget consultation process to the public later on this year for the 2011 Budget
2) $500 Request for Travel Costs for Councillor Walters to attend the CIRAC Conference in Prince George
At Tuesday's Council meeting, Council will consider a request from Councillor Laurie Walters to allocate $500 in travel costs in order for her to attend the CIRAC (Central Interior Regional Arts Council) AGM in Prince George on April 23rd & 24th. The money has not been identified, but I expect it will come from her travel expense account, contained within the City's global 2010 Budget
However, I would suggest as the region has an Arts & Council Function and as attendance at a Arts & Culture meeting would be good use of this Function's budget, Council should refer this request to the Joint Committee for consideration for approval. Council should use the City taxpayers' money for City only projects and projects that have a regional aspect to them, those projects should be funded from the Cariboo Regional District's budget
3) City of WL new Fire Hall Budget overrun
On Thursday, Mayor Cook, on the "Town Hall radio program" confirmed that the new Fire Hall construction budget has a overrun of $300,000. I've also heard from some that because of the overrun, this makes Councillor Barr look like a "hypocrite" given that he spoke out on budget overruns, as it pertained to the Tourism Discovery Center and the fact he committed to City taxpayers that budget overruns on City projects would never occur on his watch, however in this case, I think Councillor Barr did everything in his power to ensure that this project ran on time, on budget. I know he regrets profoundly that this project ran past the $6.5 million budget.
I have received a briefing from Councillor Barr on the reasons why the new Fire Hall budget overruns occurred and as one taxpayer, I'm satisfied that he and City Staff did everything in their power to keep the project on time, on budget.
But if you don't believe me, contact Councillor Tom Barr directly and I have no doubt that he will explain to you the $300,000 new Fire Hall Budget overrun and you will be satisfied with the reasons why this occured.
People can contact Councillor Tom Barr in the following way:
Email - tbarr@williamslake.ca or leave a message at City Hall for Councillor Barr and I'm sure he will return it
No comments:
Post a Comment