When the 2017 budget is fully approved a few months down the road, there is optimism that it will come in at 2% less than its 2016 counterpart.

That’s a $1.5 million dollar reduction.

Ward 5 Councillor Rick Dubeau says it’s feasible, and a goal that is more than attainable.

He points to council revisiting some items from the KPMG core services review, as well as looking at the structure of the city organization.

The latter could provide savings up to $500,000.

During the first budget meeting Wednesday night, Dubeau says he was reading a magazine and came across a project being done in Oshawa.

He goes on to read that the project—referred to as Lean methodology—is “a toolkit to reduce waste in any kind of business processes.”

“The Lean methodology seeks to minimize the resources required for production by eliminating non-value activities that inflate constant wait times and inventory requirements while emphasizing the use of quality improvement programs, preventative maintenance, post-systems, flexible work forces and flexible production facilities.”

CLICK HERE for the full video at council, under Item 5.

CAO Joe Torlone will come back with a report on this.  Dubeau says on the KPMG report that it’s time to look at the results and look at new savings.

Mayor Steve Black says if council comes back with a 2% decrease, he’s all for it but there will be some push back in the form of rising hydro costs and outstanding lost assessment through the mining industry.

Overall, several councillors gave their input on what they’d like to see in 2017.  There was a bit of talk on roads, infrastructure and even some new money generating ideas.

Over the coming days, we will recap and analyze a few notable items from the meeting.  Using the video link above, you can also view the meeting in its entirety for yourself.

Filed under: Local News