Prince George, B.C. -  While Councilors have been asking all  City departments on how they could reduce their expenditures,  Councilor Brian Skakun asked what can be done by Mayor and Council to reduce their own budget. He spoke directly to expenses which are allotted at $6,000 per Council members. “Councilors do not have to spend that amount” said Mayor Rogers.

Each Council member is paid about $21 thousand dollars a year Councilor Dave Wilbur said,  adding that the remuneration from Prince George is the lowest paid Council in the Province, “As far as recovering some of the expense remuneration, the public should know they are getting the best value for their dollar.”

Councilor Shari Green says the expenses are not over utilized as the amount used by Councilors last year fell below the $5,000 amount and she would support reducing the expense remuneration to that amount.

Councilor Brian Skakun asked that the issues of remuneration and expenses be sent to Finance and Audit Committee “We’re in tough times, and I think we need to lead by example if we expect people to cut back, we should cut back.” While he doesn’t see any changes expected for this year, he would like to see more information for the budget being developed for 2010. Council unanimously approved that motion.

The Mayor and Council budget for 2009 which calls for $619,471 dollars in expenditures, was also approved unanimously.