Saving for a rainy day may be a good idea on a personal level, but it is a contentious issue when it comes to municipal money.
“All municipalities struggle with how much you should put away,” said Pat Higgins, Coldstream’s director of financial administration.
It’s an issue Coun. Gyula Kiss isn’t comfortable with, as he questioned Coldstream’s budget plans to set aside money for future replacement costs of infrastructure.
“It burns me that we put aside extra money and then it becomes a slush fund,” said Kiss.
But district staff defend its practices.
“We’ve been fairly pro-active here in Coldstream to be on top of it as we can to reduce the burden on taxpayers,” said Trevor Seibel, chief administrative officer.
In fact, some taxpayers would like to see even more funds put away.
At the recent budget open house, one of the few recommendations received was that an additional three to four per cent tax increase be implemented to address infrastructure needs.
There was also a request to look at drainage and flooding issues at the initial source and two requests were made to install sidewalks on Aberdeen Road. Council has included funds in the 2015 budget to install additional curb nodes and lighting to address pedestrian safety concerns.
Enforcement drives away speeders
Traffic enforcement on five ‘hot spot’ roads in Coldstream is proving worthwhile.
Speeding complaints drove additional enforcement out on Buchannan Road, Aberdeen Road, Kalamalka Road, Middleton Way and School Road (in Lavington) between September 2014 and February 2015.
During that period, 314 tickets were issued, the majority of which were dedicated to speeding. Ninety speed warnings and 124 speed tickets were issued. Other tickets handed out included 22 seat belt violations, seven stop sign violations, three distracted driving and 30 other along with the additional warnings and notices.
The steady declining rate of infractions per hour also shows that the additional enforcement measures are having a positive impact on addressing speeding. Rates went from seven per hour in September, steadily declining down to 3.56 in February.
“They’re doing a lot of good work in your community,” said Insp, Jim McNamara of the dedicated traffic enforcement. “It’s a valuable program.”
The majority of time was spent on Kalamalka and Aberdeen roads, while minimal time was spent on School Road.
“They have indicated that the traffic numbers are so low out there it is not an efficient use of their time,” said McNamara.
Continued focus on the identified areas will take place over the next few months, with specific attention paid to School Road as construction of the pellet plant takes place.
