Citizen finance focus group zeroes in on Revelstoke budget issues

The two-man Finance Focus Group, a citizen budget oversight team, have provided their 2015 critique of the City of Revelstoke’s budget, which includes many recommendations designed to trim the fat and increase efficiency at our local government.

The Finance Focus Group was created at the request of city council to provide a citizens’ perspective on the local budget process. The report, written by Bob Melnyk and Nathan Weston, states that they are not accountants, they provide researched views from a common sense standpoint on the current processes.

Their report is lengthy but not exhaustive and provides an interesting insight into the scope of what makes Revelstoke operate and the current issues it faces. The report covers a range of topics from reviewing the process of adopting the city’s budget to the town’s method of snow removal.

On housing, the Focus Group recommends that the council reassess the current minimum size restriction for secondary suites to encourage more builds and help the stretched housing situation.

“The need to increase the density of our existing footprint is long overdo,” the report states.

On councillor pay, the report states that the current pay for their expected 40 plus hours a month is not sufficient. It suggests that the mayoral paycheque be increased $2,000 annually to a total of $30,000 and an extra $1,000 be added to the councillor paycheque, bringing it to $15,000 a year.

“The enormous time commitment required to properly carry out the duties of council should not create a financial burden for those in office or those considering a term on council,” the report states.

In point form, here are some of the recommendations and areas of discussion in the report. They recommend the city should:

-review IT staffing

-make significant staffing changes in the water and sewer department

-demolish the Century Vallen building

-allow for more carriage and secondary suites

-review the Williamson’s Lake campground contract

-take a series of steps to reduce fire protection services costs

-overhaul snow removal polices to save money

-provide a breakdown of where your tax dollars are spent on your tax bill

To read the full report, follow this link.