If the City of Armstrong’s financial statements were a report card, they’d be exceeding expectations. Coun. John Trainor, chairperson of Armstrong’s finance committee, said auditor Chris Henderson found the city’s books to be in great shape. “It’s a good news story,” said Trainor. “We’d get five gold stars from him for the city’s direction with its budgeting process.” Some of the highlights from the audit, said Trainor, included the city increasing its financial assets considerably, from $3.3 million to $5.135 million, and its long-term debt decreased by more than half a million dollars. Reserves increased from $4.194 million to $5.126 million, and the city’s expenses in 2011 were $400,000 under budget.
No more board bodies
Two members of Armstrong council are opposed to
Coldstream’s request for another body at the Regional District of North
Okanagan board table. Coldstream Coun. Maria Besso made the pitch on behalf
of the district for a second body, as the district, with 10,000 people,
current has the same number of people at the table as Cherryville, which
has less than 1,000 people. Vernon is getting another body at the table because of its population numbers, which will give Vernon four members at the table. Armstrong Mayor Chris Pieper and Coun. John Trainor
feel adding another body for Coldstream would not make the regional
district board any more functional. “I would suggest the board use a weighted vote system
similar to the Okanagan Regional Library,” said Pieper, where each
community puts one member at the board table but gets a certain number
of votes based on population. The weighted vote, however, is generally used only for financial matters. “Adding another political voice to that table from
Coldstream isn’t going to resolve any of the issues the regional
district has, that’s for sure,” added Trainor.
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