Budget consultation too pricey?
NEWS/ CITY HALL — One of the first things the new edition of Kamloops City council will take a look at is the cost of public consultation. A report to the outgoing council Tuesday showed it’s not cheap.
Business and client services manager Tammy Robertson presented a summary of City Hall’s public engagement efforts for the past year along with a summary of costs. A “conservative” estimate of those costs, she said, is $181,860.
Of that amount, $57,700 went towards two public meetings in October on the 2015 budget, which attracted only 44 people. The cost for staff to prepare, attend and analyze the input from those meetings came to $51,200. Advertising and other details added $6,500.
Robertson said in her report that other public input opportunities included open houses, public hearings, workshops, school presentations and other events. She estimated the total number of participants attending public engagement activities to be 4,699.
Some councillors expressed concern at the high cost for the budget-consultation meetings in comparison to the 44 people who attended, suggesting there be fewer such meetings.
But they left it to the new council to make any changes.
ArmchairMayor.ca 
The money would be well spent if council actually listened to what people had to say. They don’t though, it just seems to be window dressing, so the money is wasted.
LikeLike