The 2009 budget comes up for approval at a special council meeting on Monday, May 11.Check it out -- $50.966 million from "Other Sources"? Damn! That's 60% of the budget!
Inside Langford reports: "The five year plan is interesting as it seems to have budgeted the assumption of receiving several grants,* an apparently unusual accounting technique (the more common technique appears to be to adjust your five-year plan after receiving a grant, than budgeting as if you were going to receive it when you don’t know whether you will or not)."
And don't worry about asking questions about the budget -- there's no public participation on the agenda for this meeting.
Update: The budget was passed without a single comment. So there.
Updated update: $32 million in grants for the allegedly "private-funded" Bear Mountain Interchange were rejected, possibly because handing federal money to private companies is considered corrupt or something.
This is EXACTLY what many people have been saying for over a year now. The city is in serious financial difficulty due to mismanagement. The pain is simply being deferred.
ReplyDeleteThe other aspect of course is that most often with grants there is a corresponding project that needs to be offset as an expense. The Province doesn't usually just give money with no strings attached!