The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
A cost-cutting City of Flin Flon has eliminated five summer student positions in a move expected to save nearly $50,000. Whereas the Parks and Recreation department employed 14 summer students last year, this year only nine were hired _ and two of those for just part of the summer. Chief Administrative Officer Mark Kolt said the city is looking at approximate savings of $47,000 as a result. The cuts involved one position at the Whitney Forum and four within the parks system. The usual jobs will still be performed, Kolt said, but likely on a less frequent basis. 'You prioritize and try to make the best use of the available resources,' he said. As an example, Kolt said the grass on a particular piece of municipal land may be mowed less often than in previous years. The other city department that employs summer students, Works and Operations, has also hired fewer students, but that is not expected to translate into cost savings, he said. Works and Operations currently has five summer students and five seasonal workers, whereas in typical years past it had seven students and two or three seasonals. See 'Cutbacks' on pg. Continued from pg. There are more seasonals this year, Kolt said, because of summer construction projects and pending vacancies in full-time positions, together with the likelihood of several of the seasonals moving into these positions in the fall. The summer student cutbacks follow the city's decision earlier this year not to pick up garbage from residences through its spring clean-up campaign. That cancellation was expected to save $30,000. The city temporarily waived non-commercial tipping fees at the landfill to help residents clean up their own spring trash. Other cuts have been discussed, but a full picture of spending will not emerge until the city approves its 2013-14 budget, likely not until September at the earliest. This past March, Mayor George Fontaine told the Chamber of Commerce that he and his council were pondering 'a whole pile' of spending cuts. 'Which ones will actually come to fruition? I guess over the next probably one to two months, as we finish our budget, we'll know which ones will come to fruition,' he said. The budget was not completed as expected, however, since one of its components _ a change to how police and fire protection is funded _ needs approval from the Manitoba Municipal Board. In his address to the chamber, Mayor Fontaine said council had looked at reducing snow removal, for instance, but kept returning to the problem of what happens when snow is allowed to build up on streets and then melt. This scenario will 'create flooding' in low-lying areas, he said, adding 'there are some very dire consequences that have been seen from that in this community before.' Mayor Fontaine said even small events, such as recognition ceremonies for city employees, were looked at, as were other things sponsored by the city. Some have suggested public transit be trimmed or eliminated. In the two days before his address, Mayor Fontaine said he had heard from one resident who sees bussing as a waste and another who considers it an essential service. He himself favoured keeping public transit, noting that at least half of the cost is funded by government and that it's not clear whether changing systems would be cheaper. But the most significant impact from the city's fiscal crunch may be not what it cuts, but what it is never able to do in the first place. 'I guess (one) of the biggest things is, we just keep not doing certain projects that need doing because we don't have the money in the bank,' Mayor Fontaine told the chamber. 'You can call that cutting, you can call that whatever.' Aside from spending cuts, council has also approved first reading of a motion to implement a hotel room tax, but that will need the approval of the Manitoba government. Initially described as a tax of five per cent on the normal cost of a hotel room, council has signaled it may move to a flat tax _ meaning all hotels would charge the same amount. Council continues to try and secure a funding partnership with surrounding communities for recreational facilities like the Aqua Centre. Effective Sept. 1, non-Flin Flonners who use the Aqua Centre will in general pay 42 per cent more than residents. The fee could be eliminated, however, if community-level funding agreements are reached.
