Castlegar provisional 2010 budget to be unveiled
By Kyra Hoggan
It’s all about the money, honey – at least it will be this Monday night, when a special council meeting will see the unveiling of Castlegar’s proposed 2010 budget and five-year financial plan … and, possibly, the future role Celgar will play within it.
The meeting, to be held at the Community Forum at 7 p.m., is a first-glimpse opportunity for the public to see and understand the directions council has chosen to take in light of challenges that arose in 2009, the most notable of which being the major-industry taxation issue. This problem was brought into clear relief last summer when Celgar, a company representing more than 40 per cent of the city’s annual tax roll, refused to pay its $3.6-million municipal tax tab and filed suit in court instead, citing “unfair and unreasonable” tax rates.
Celgar has since paid a portion of the bill, and Castlegar mayor Lawrence Chernoff said the city may be able to announce some form of resolution to the Celgar issue, including the pending court case, as early as this Monday at the aforementioned budget meeting.
“We’re close (to reaching an agreement),” he said.
Negotiations seeking a more equitable tax deal for Celgar have, however, created a cash crunch elsewhere in the city budget, which Chernoff said has necessitated cuts and cost-saving initiatives as well as an increase in residential taxes.
“It’s been a long, tedious job,” he said. “Staff and council have worked extremely hard – there have been hours and hours spent and countless sleepless nights to get us to this point, with a budget we feel is fair for everyone it impacts.”
This meeting is not the public consultation open house, but rather an opportunity for Castlegar’s chief financial director, Andre Buss, to introduce the budget to council for first and second readings (copies of the agenda, budget and five-year plan with then be made available at city hall or on the city website at www.castlegar.ca).
The public consultations, which will be similar in format to previous years, will feature brief presentations explaining key points within the documents, then an open-house-style discussion in which members of the public can speak one-on-one with senior city staff and council members, asking questions and/or offering input.
These meetings will be held March 29 and 30, at the Community Forum (445 13 Ave.) and the Blueberry Creek Community School (200 Centre Ave.) respectively. The March 29 open house will run from 5 to 7 p.m., while the following evening’s meeting is slated to begin at 7 p.m., in an attempt to allow for a variety of scheduling needs and restrictions residents may face.
The following day, March 31, will see the deadline for submitting public input surveys discussing budget priorities (to fill one out, just click on the advertisment on this page), so all input can be gathered and processed by staff and council before the budget gets third reading and is adopted.
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