BWG faces increased long-term debt

By Meade Helman AWARE News Network December 20 2012

The financial audit from 2011 was presented. According to the auditor, at the end of 2011 the town was $50mil in long-term debt. There has been additional debt incurred in 2012. Councillor Lamb expressed concern about the town carrying such a large debt load. The auditor said that the increase in debt was due to increased infrastructure. And the increase in expenses was due to an increase in population.

Deputy Mayor Keffer asked how pledges are accounted for. Pledges don’t go on the books until the money is received.

Another request for exemption to the new sign law. EDITORIAL COMMENT: It seems that every new chain store that comes to town asks for and receives exceptions to the sign law. Why have a sign bylaw?

There were new requests for single-source purchasing despite the town’s purchasing policy. These were approved. One was for software for the finance department’s server, Red Hat 2 and consulting fees to install it.. When questioned about the life of the new operating system, the Director of Finance, Ian Goodfellow, said that UNIX was a dying system and no one was creating new software for it. So in a few years they would need a new operating system. EDITORAL COMMENT: I asked a system designer for one of our major banks about UNIX and he said there are new UNIX applications every day and that the bank has no plans to get rid of that operating system.

WORTH NOTING: Mayor White again encouraged council to pass a by-law because the town staff had worked hard on it. Mayor White also mentioned that Zehr’s was a great addition to the town and he had his children’s picture taken there with a reindeer. EDITORiAL COMMENT: I wish that council had as much respect and concern for taxpayers as they do for chain stores and town staff.

Attendance: Councillor Crake, Councillor Dykie and Jay Courier town manager were absent. It should be mentioned at the beginning of this term of council the number of council meetings were reduced from 3 to 2. There are only 2 meetings a month.