DBIA Stands For " Downtown Budget Isn't Approved"
By 250 News
Monday, July 05, 2010 10:54 PM
Prince George, B.C.- The Downtown Business Improvement Association has failed to have its new business plan and budget approved by Prince George City Council and will have to do some more work before money will flow their way.
The plan, and budget, were a total departure from the budget Council approved in December, and on which the bylaw setting up the collection of special fees from property owners in the downtown C-1 zone was based.
The revised spending plan calls for money to be spent on trying to attract new business to the downtown, a job that is already the responsibility of Initiatives Prince George. Councillor Don Bassermann said he recognizes the DBIA is into a “new era” and the people involved are eager to bring about change. He notes however, that he would like to have the new players clearly understand their role as outlined in the legislation.
He also wants to know how much money was left over from the previous DBIA and how that money was spent.
The new plan drops the proposal to pay $100 thousand dollars for an executive director, and instead, that money would be used for a variety of projects, including $25 thousand this year and for each of the next two years, to have “Let’s Get Started “ update seminars. The 2010 seminar has already been held so Council was in fact being asked to approve the expenditure of money that has already been spent.
There is also a line item for $20 thousand dollars to be spent this year to try and help the City land the 2015 Winter Games. That is something Councillor Don Bassermann says may be a nice gesture, but he doesn’t think it is appropriate.
The new plan calls for a move out of the Initiatives Prince George Building into an as yet unnamed site which would mean the spending of $5 thousand to move, and a quadrupling of the rent from $3 thousand a year to $12 thousand a year.
Councillor Murry Krause was very concerned about the targets for business recruitment, Specifically, he says he would not support the recruitment of a Chapters when Books and Company “is one of the most successful book stores in all of B.C.” Councillor Brian Skakun disagreed saying it is not Council’s role to decide what kind of business is recruited.
While Councillor Don Bassermann wanted the budget brought back with more information on July 19th, Councillor Cameron Stolz expressed some concern about delaying the budget.
Councillor Dave Wilbur says recruitment of business is not, in his opinion within the mandate of the DBIA so he would not support part of the budget. He proposed the budget be approved with the exception of the two items in contention, but that proposal was defeated.
The information to be brought back to Council will cover the following:
- Appropriateness as under the Community Charter, the expenditures of items 2 and 5 (recruitment funding of $30 thousand this year, and expenditure of $20 thousand for a concert to help land the 2015 Winter Games)
- List of expenditures and benefitting vendors for the Let’s Get Started review
- The amount left over from the previous DBIA and how that money was spent.
“We have a responsibility to those resources (residual funds) as well” says Bassermann who says calling for an administrative report and further information is not delaying the budget, it’s just asking for more information.
Mayor Dan Rogers says the reason Council is where it is on this matter is because the budget is totally different from the one initially approved.
The funds to the DBIA normally are distributed in August.
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Posted by: supertech on July 5 2010 11:34 PM