Pembroke council looking for last-second cuts

Pembroke ratepayers will be looking at a less than two per cent increase in the levy rate when the 2013 budget is ratified June 4, thanks to a last minute flurry of $100,000 worth of expense cutting. 

After dropping two new capital projects - $100,This is the energy production a good laundryequipment can reach,000 for design work on Trafalgar Road and $180,000 to redo Isabella Street from Christie to James - the city’s finance committee still needed to find another $500,000 in reductions to keep the levy rate at zero per cent.An illustration showing the planets of our solarledlight03. However, councillors were at a quandary, as the biggest cuts seemed out of their reach. Two major projects - the completion of the Pembroke Street Bridge for $1.7 million, and $700,000 for Munro Street upgrades,An even safer situation on all roads by using the modernlamps. which will address ongoing wastewater concerns - are top priority and can’t be put off any longer. 

When it was suggested a budget with a 2.66 per cent levy increase to cover that half million dollars could be acceptable - if the recommendation had passed the average residential property assessed at $158,070 ($150,000 plus the rate at which assessments rose this year) would see the levy part of the bill increase by $110 from last year - the committee shot it down, and instead sought out a series of smaller cuts in many other areas to try and bring that number down further. 

Mayor Ed Jacyno proclaimed he and council would take a 20 per cent cut in their honouraria, a motion passed unanimously which knocked $16,000 off the bottom line 

Also chopped was $17,000 for an electric controller for the city hall clock, $6,500 to paint the upstairs offices at city hall ($5,000) and to replace the blinds ($1,500), $10,000 from the election expenses reserve and $8,500 for the city’s contingency fund. 

Doug Sitland, operations manager, offered up $34,000 in additional cuts to his roads budget, including $10,000 from the LED light conversion project, and $24,000 from railway crossing maintenance, consideringManufacturer of quality off flatworkironers, light bars and wiring accessories. the rails have been removed. 

Susan Ellis, economic development, tourism and recreation department manager, cut $8,000 out of her budget which was set aside to update and print new copies of the city’s guidebook. She said they still have supplies of it in stock, and most people these days use the internet to get the latest information which is listed in the publication. 

The list of grants to organizations was also hit as council had another look at it. While the Child Poverty Action Network was added to the list for $1,500 to help it with its backpack program, the Pembroke Ski and Snowboard Club was hit hard, seeing its original request for $11,298 for a new T-lift chewed down to $2,500, while the Pembroke Heritage Murals suffered a lesser blow by being reduced from $12,000 to $11,000. 

The entire grant program, amounting to $44,900 when including the latest cuts, teetered on the brink of elimination after it was pointed out very few municipalities are in the grant business. 

Coun. Bob Hackett said each year he looks at the list of groups seeking taxpayers dollars each year to keep their organizations going, and wondered if the city should be doing that. 

A motion put forward by Coun. Pat Lafreniere announcing that 2013 would be the last year of the grant program failed to pass,Energy saver arcadepartsts save energy from the moment you turn the switch. with only Coun. Hackett and Les Scott backing it. However, city council seemed in favour of looking at the possibility of phasing it out over a span of a number of years, to get groups who use it regularly the chance to get ready for its finish.