Budget Talks Begin

Friday, 14 February 2014 04:58

The pesky Emerald Ash Borer is continuing to have an impact on the City's Parks and Recreation Budget.

City Council got their first line by line look at the $5 million Parks and Recreation Revenue Fund Budget.

Council heard Thursday night that one of the high level objectives in 2014 was a $65,000 Recreation Facility Needs Study.

Director of Parks and Recreation, Brian Connors says the study will allow the City to get some bench marks from other municipalities on what the community needs and wants when it comes to Parks and Recreation.

"This has a lot to do with any number of large decisions that are coming on the horizon. This could have to do with the Civic Centre Arena, Lions Pool, the Woodall Project certainly, basically what are the recreation needs going forward for the citizens in Woodstock."

Connors is also looking for $58,000 for a pair of seasonal skilled labourers he says would replace two part time students previously hired by the City.

"We love students in the park, in the summer they are the backbone of the workforce. We hired a lot of students in parks. I think working in parks alone at night probably is not the best place for them, you want them to work daytime when there's more supervision and we can have them do different tasks."

Connors says it will put people who are a little older with more training into the parks when they are at their busiest and bring more of a knowledgeable presence to City parks as well.

Another high level objective of the budget was additional money to combat the Emerald Ash Borer.

Connors says the EAB will continue to have an impact for another two years and he has asked for $90,000 to combat the pest in 2014.

"We're pretty much in the middle of it. There's a lot of street trees to come down and once we take those down we have to, you know, stump the area, get the root ball out and then plant another tree in there and that's labour intensive, time intensive and costly."

Council also saw a $30,000 increase in projected hydro fees at Southwood Arena from 2013.

Council will hear budget presentations from both the library and City Police next Thursday, February 20.