As part of the City of Castlegar’s budget process, council has made a few preliminary decisions regarding non-profits and bylaw officers that will be incorporated into the 2019 budget.
The city has identified a need to increase bylaw enforcement hours to full time. Currently the bylaw position is budgeted at 60 per cent full time equivalent.
Last year’s budget was $36,000, which included an amount for night-time park patrols.
The city has been contracting services with the Commissionaires which allows access to more than one person to staff those hours. This means the city can support day-time coverage, night-time park patrols and things such as early morning garbage patrols.
At a previous meeting, councillor Cherryl Macleod requested that staff look into the costs of moving the position in house.
The staff report showed that a full-time position with the Commissionaires would cost the city $50,897. The in-house position would cost $87,547 plus overhead.
Keeping with the Commissionaires would mean a savings of more than $36,500.
The majority of council voted to stick with the Commissionaires.
Macleod voted against the motion.
Funding requests
Mayor Bruno Tassone supported two non-profit requests for budget funding, but council rejected both of them.
The first was a request by the Castlegar Hospital Foundation for $2,000 a year on an ongoing basis.
The second was a similar request for the Increasing Recreation Involving Seniors (IRIS) project. The request was for $5,000 annually on an ongoing basis.
The majority of council felt the two requests would be better handled through the Community Initiatives grant funding process. They also wanted to hear from the organizations about how the money would be spent and preferred to support specific projects rather than ongoing operational costs.
Council also decided to defer a request from Sculpturewalk for an annual increase in funding of $20,000.
The request asked for an increase to the organization’s operating grant from $45,000 to $65,000.
In their request, Sculpturewalk mentioned new costs and shrinking grants from other sources as a reason for seeking the additional funding. Council has asked Sculpturewalk for a more detailed presentation on where the additional money would go before they decide.
Budget decisions are not final until the budget bylaw is adopted.
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betsy.kline@castlegarnews.com
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