Council Watchdog Looks For Budget Savings

Written by Peter McIntyre Monday,  107.5 KISSFM 28 January 2013 22:02
  How much is too much? That's a question at least one Vernon councillor is asking after the city's proposed tax hike rose to 4.7%, up a half a percent. Bob Spiers says he will do what he can to get it lower. "I mean 1.9% of that is the building up for infrastucture, so we're talking about 2.7...2.8%, well above the cost of living for this year." Spiers says he will look for savings. "Hopefully we won't pass this budget until after the city's core service review, and maybe there's some money saving ideas in there," Spiers told the media. The proposed increase translates to an extra $53 for the average homeowner. Mayor Rob Sawatzky realizes many residents would like that figure go down, not up. "Wouldn't we all, so we'll see if councillor Spiers brings forward some ideas that are sustainable reductions," Sawatzky tells Kiss FM. The proposed hike went up Monday after council agreed to cover for $147,728 in over-estimated Terasen gas franchise fees, and to add $40,000 funding to recruit and train volunteer firefighters for a new Predator Ridge station. Fire chief Keith Green told council, the $600,000 firehall could go out to tender this spring, and be completed by the fall.
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Don Quixote Note: At the Council meeting I did manage to get $30,000 reduced from the budget as the budget had been presented with a 1.5% salary increase for exempt workers and it was adjusted downwards to reflect the .8% actual Canadian CPI. (If this Canadian CPI Policy was changed to be calculated based on B.C. CPI (as is used in Coldstream and RDNO) this would have been a further $30,000 saving. ) The Council's remuneration formula for the 2012 and 2013 was changed to BC CPI rather than Canadian CPI. This ensures that the calculated deferred increase to be start in 2014 will use a .1% BC CPI increase rather than the 2012 Can CPI of .8%

The average difference in CPI over the last 10 years has been a minimum of 20% with the Canadian CPI being higher each year. This might be a sustainable change to be made for 2014???

The $30,000 budget change reflects the exempt positions that affect taxes.  The amount of savings for the Utilities positions (Water, Sewer ) were not changed as they affect Utility Ratepayers.