A budget-cutting proposal by the municipality’s finance committee has been put on hold.
The recommendation was to direct department heads to provide a five per cent reduction in their operating expenses for next year.
Coun. Bruce Hallquist said the recommendation was coming in late for the upcoming year, since municipal department managers are already in the process of calculating next year’s budgets.
Municipal treasurer Ken Ostraat said the reduction will not be possible at each department.
“We’re asking the department heads to come back with as close to a five per cent reduction as possible,” he said.
Coun. Peter Waterman said the resolution should be reworded to have the department heads looking for the best use of tax dollars rather than a specific amount to cut.
Mayor Janice Perrino said the Helios report, completed late in 2008, showed the municipality was spending money appropriately and was slightly understaffed.
A decision on the budget-cutting recommendation will be deferred until the new municipal administrator is on staff.