Among those areas where the Public will have opportunity to share a comment or observation with Council will come during the Committee of the Whole Session, when the City's Financial Officer Corrinne Bomben will provide a final review of the City of Prince Rupert Budget plan for 2018, with Council members then opening the floor to final commentary from the public.
The first comment opportunity two weeks ago, found but one city resident in attendance on the night to offer commentary towards the process.
The issue of low attendance has become a common theme of recent years, making for a frustrating period of time for some council members who have noted in the past that community engagement on many civic matters has been on the decline.
In recent years, the presentation of the budget and opportunity to comment in particular is something which has not drawn large numbers, seemingly making for one of the reasons that the process was shifted to the cozy confines of City Hall, moving from Lester Centre, which had hosted the forum in the past.
Tonight's Budget consultation session will take place following the Public hearing to be held as part of this evening's work at 7PM.
The community engagement forum, is one part of the process of review that takes place before Council votes to adopt its financial plan for the year.
Earlier this month, the City released it's Five year financial plan document, which outlined many of the challenges and spending plans for the year, as well as to provide some background to some financial issues that continue to frustrate them.
Some of those themes have marked the relationship between the City and province when it comes to the Port Tax Cap process, as well as the City's ongoing concerns over the nature of the tax revenue split with Port Edward, when it comes to the Ridley Island Tax Sharing Agreement.
You can review the full Five Year Plan and an accompanying information slide show from the City's Budget page on the municipal website (see here)
Those looking to get a head start on their research for tonight's Budget consultation can review our notes from Ms. Bomben's first overview of the Budge process, which includes the video of the Council session from February which featured that presentation.
You can also explore issues related to the Budget preparations through our archive page here.
More items of note from tonight's council session can be reviewed here.
Other notes on topics of discussion from past Council sessions can be found on our Council Discussion Archive page.
Cross posted from the North Coast Review.
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