Nanaimo Council is nearly done a line-by-line review of the 2014 budget.
Thursday they’ll decide on a few more spending options, including a proposal from George Anderson to invest 150 thousand in the E&N trail project, and look at Cultural Operating Grants.
Wednesday they rejected a proposal from Bill Bestwick to sell off Firehall No. 1 and the department offices, then use the money to build a single facility at a new site.
Council did, however, vote to put more money into the department in 2014. 86-thousand dollars that will cover extra overtime to ensure a minimum of 4 firefighters on shift for each truck.
The “decision packages” Council has been working through aren’t very user friendly for the public, but Director of Finance Brian Clemens says the next step will be putting it all together.
As things stand right now, the expected residential tax increase for this year is sitting at a little over 2 per cent.
