Village will have to make some very difficult choices
Derek Neary
Northern News Services
Fort Simpson (May 11/01) - Village council got some insight into its financial future at Monday night's meeting, and it isn't pretty.
A deficit of $40,000 is expected in the 2001 budget, according to a presentation by an accountant and officials with Municipal and Community Affairs (MACA).
The real hardship looms next year when an the GNWT will chop $500,000 from from its proportional funding allotment to the village. Another $500,000 will be cut in 2003.
Accountant Doug Cooper said the village will have to scrutinize each line of its budget to identify where it can save money or introduce user fees.
Councillor Kirby Groat suggested that the arena may have to be shut down. Cooper agreed that arena costs are generally quite high. User fees are also an option, he said.
Mayor Tom Wilson pointed out that the village could save money by no longer providing water to the community, but acknowledged that the school and health centre couldn't function without the service.
More realistically, Wilson said the village will have to decide whether it will perform any maintenance on the recreation centre or plough snow from the streets.
He didn't rule out the possibility of the village returning to hamlet status, which would lessen the extent of the funding cuts, but would turn more decision-making power over to MACA.
Before that decision is made, Wilson pledged to continue lobbying the GNWT for a reprieve.
"Our job is to convince the ministers that they have erred in the way they have allocated money to Fort Simpson," Wilson said. "The next three or four months will tell the tale."
Tom Beard, senior financial advisor for MACA, admitted that the village is not alone in its frustration.
"Local governments are getting more responsibility and less money to do the work," he said.
Beard and another consultant are scheduled to attend the May 22 council meeting to discuss the village's long-term capital requirements.
Then, in August, an operations and maintenance budget for 2002 and 2003 will be presented.
