The Penticton City Council will eliminate its 2012 budget deficit of
$1.3M by cutting costs and dipping into its surplus and reserves. The decision was reached after three long days of budget deliberations
that included staff presentations and much discussion on how to save
every nickel and dime. “I’m happy, because I think we showed a leadership position in this economy,” said Councillor Andrew Jakubeit. Initially, the council whittled down the $1.3M to just over $1M by
cutting the money it will spend on the deer cull, civic grants, street
light pole inspection and other city-related expenses. It then looked at solutions including utilizing the interest
stabilization reserve, reducing equipment depreciation transfer,
utilizing the prior year’s surplus and taxation to reduce the deficit. After some debate on the long term consequences of dipping into city
savings versus taxation, a decision was made to use $800,000 from the
surplus and $272,287 from the reserve. “I don’t’ like going to the reserve to balance our budget, because it’s
not sustainable,” said Councillor Garry Litke. But I can support going
to the reserve to get us to zero. We are here to be prudent fiscal
managers.” Penticton resident Keith Todd was glad to see the council reach a decision. “If we are not using it, there is no sense in sitting on it,” he said, of the financial plan. While Vikram Singh, also from Penticton, said it is beneficial for the city to not have a deficit. The council also devoted much of the meetings to discussions on where
to best put the city’s money. Tourism and waterfront issues were high on
the list, according to Mayor Dan Ashton.
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