Travel Budget Rollback Didn't Fly

Wednesday, March 01, 2006 08:45 PM

When it came to dealing with the Budget for the Mayor and Council, Councilor Skakun wanted the travel budget per Councilor rolled back. from the proposed 6 thousand per Councilor to $5,000 per Councilor. "We need to lead by example " said Skakun who pressed that if other departments are being asked to hold the line, they should as well. Councilor Don Zurowski echoed that argument saying "These issues are cumulative, I think we can lead by example. The budget is up substantially over the rate of inflation" said Zurowski "No one has never not gone to a conference because of the finance issue" he added.
Councilor Deborah Munoz disagreed. "I recently attended a conference in Ottawa and the airfare alone was over $1,000.00 and we need to reflect the increase in the cost of fuel as well."

When the vote was counted, Sherry Sethen, Brian Skakun, and Don Zurowski all voted to peel back the travel budget, not enough. The request was defeated, and the budget for Mayor and Council ($554 thousand including salaries) was passed.
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Posted on Wednesday, March 01, 2006 08:45 PM in News by 250 News

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Comments

Posted by: Palopu on March 1 2006 9:22 PM

Well they passed the travel budget, however that does not mean that they will necessarily spend it. Maybe 2006/7 will be the year that the Mayor and Councillors stick close to home. Lots for them to do in this town.

Posted by: Honestjoe on March 1 2006 11:02 PM

Only three councilors saw fit to reduce the travel budget per councilor. Something to remember for the next election. It seems the majority of politicians feel that the taxpayers have an endless source of funds to support their wishes.
Deborah Monoz and her $1000+ flight to Ottawa....maybe she could plan ahead a bit more and take advantage of the Westjet sales.
Annual tax increases for the City of Prince George are becoming all too frequent while there seems no desire within the political or bureaucratic ranks, to reduce their spending, to keep the taxes down.
May we continue to have Ben and Elaine act as investigative watchdogs for the citizens of Prince George since none of the other local media seem to indicate a desire to do so. Maybe they are afraid of losing advertising revenue, if they speak out for the benefit of the taxpayers. May we see some improvement in the future.

Posted by: YamaDooPolCat on March 4 2006 8:17 AM

Councilor Deborah Munoz disagreed. ....and we need to reflect the increase in the cost of fuel as well."

As if Deborah is the only one that matters when the price of fuel goes up! The rest of us can pay for your increases in fuel costs, plus Deb's