Council is meeting AGAIN tonight to discuss what measures they’re going to take to deal with their ten-point-something million dollar, Brad-Wall-induced budget hole.
Again?!? “What mean you ‘again’?” you may ask. Oh just that, this will be the third meeting council has held specifically to deal with the loss of the grants-in-lieu program and the one percent PST boost.
Most recently, council met last Monday, ostensibly to deal with the budget shortfall (previewed here). They didn’t quite make it that far. They listened to delegations then they ended the meeting and postponed deliberation of administration’s proposed cuts and property tax hike.
And so — finally, actually, totally — making real live budget decisions is what tonight’s meeting is supposed to be all about. Fun starts at 5:30pm. And with the help of the Gods Of Good Bureaucracy, I’m hoping to be home by 9pm. That’s assuming, of course, that there are no new delegations on the agenda for tonight. In theory, there shouldn’t be any seeing as that’s what last week’s meeting was about.
What do you want to bet Chad Novak will find some way on to a microphone tonight?
To prepare, you may want to catch up on what was discussed last week. If so, here are all my tweets collected for your delight and amusement. And yes, this storify starts with a pic of Chad Novak from the neck down. I was trying to take a pre-council selfie with a hoard of lawnbowlers in the background. But Novak kept blundering into the frame. Go figure… Chad Novak getting in the way of something getting done at a council meeting? How appropriate.
So that’s it. The April 10 meeting warped up in time for the April 18 meeting.
And guess what, we’re all getting together again next week. The whole gang of us: council, the media, disgruntled citizens, hopeful developers, Chad Novak. This’ll be for the regularly scheduled council meeting.
I joked a few weeks ago that I should have unlocked some kind of achievement for live-tweeting two council meetings two nights in a row. I have so surpassed that feat by now. And if I survive next week’s meeting, I’ll be demanding a goddamn trophy for live tweeting five council meetings in as many weeks.
You getting this, Whitworth?
Okay, before I sign off, here is a handy summary of everything I’ve written/recorded so far on the subject of the provincial budget:
- Savings Vs. Shortfalls: Sask’s two biggest cities reject Wall’s reckless budget advice [Prairie Dog]
- Premier V Mayor On City Reserves [Queen City Improvement Bureau]
- Property Taxes Rising Again And Other Crappy News [Dog Blog]
- Taxing Dark Matter Citizens — interviews with Councillor Joel Murray and MLA Nicole Sarauer [Queen City Improvement Bureau]
- Handmade Regina Cleanup — interview with SUMA’s Sean McEachern [Queen City Improvement Bureau]
- Budget Of Rage: The province doesn’t care for Brad Wall’s austerity jamboree [Prairie Dog]
- Emergency Council Meeting Warp Up: Provincial Budget WTF? Edition [Dog Blog]
If you want to catch all of tonight’s council live tweeting as it happens, tune your twitter to my live-tweeting account @PDCityHall at 5:30pm.