Prince George, B.C. – As part of the 2014 Budget consultation,  Council has approved  holding an "e-Town hall" meeting in October.

The  on-line  event  is aimed at engaging more  residents in  the budget process, but  there has been no clarification on  how  it will be  controlled to  ensure those taking part are actual residents of Prince George.  The City is borrowing software from the City of Nanaimo, and it is  expected that software will have some sort of  filtering  process to  weed out those who are not within accepted Prince George  postal codes.

The e-town hall,  would be a live streamed meeting where residents are able to participate in person, via the web or over the phone.

As for when this meeting is going to be held, that has yet to be set .  Council wanted the meeting to be held  on an appropriate date where the majority of Council may attend. The initial  date was October 1st, but  Director of Finance Services, Kathleen Soltis, says the meeting could be held  as late as two weeks  into October and there would still be enough  time for Administration to  bring the  information forth  before the first budget meeting that is set for late November.

As for shaping the budget, the Finance and Audit Committee has already made some recommendations to  staff on  how to reach the 2.5% tax increase target.  Those suggestions have not been presented to Council.