As the turning of the seasons brings winter every year without fail, and as the march of days brings everyone back to Monday again and again, so too is the life of municipal politics brought year after year to the same inexorable point –– the municipal budget.
On Tuesday, November 10, Director of Finances Marion Vanoni presented council with a first draft of the proposed 2010 budget. All councillors were present, Councillor Gary Taje joining via teleconference.
Council had previously directed administration to bring forward a proposed budget that contains an increase of no more than three percent over last year’s budget. To accomplish this, Vanoni worked with other department heads and made recommendations on funding requests from outside the municipal structure.

The proposed 2010 budget, as it currently stands, would see $6.8 million raised in taxes, a three percent increase over the 2009 budget.
Council will be holding a two-day budget retreat over November 28 and 29, a weekend. At this retreat they will go through the entire budget and start to make decisions.
“Council on that retreat weekend will be looking at the overall revenues in relation to the expenditures we need to operate,” said Vanoni.
She said that the budget is being presented to council in a different format than they are used to, taking a more global approach to budgeting rather than a details-focused approach. The intent, she said, is to help council pass the budget earlier than they have in the previous several years.
... for the full story, see the November 17 issue of the Pass Herald.