The 2016 city budget has been revised in large part because the city won’t have to pay as much for insurance next year and there is more money for public transit but is it enough to avoid further cutbacks?
Councillor Donna Reardon chairs the Transit Commission. She sees the financial squeeze on public transit when you’re spending more on roads to be fundamentally unfair to those people in Saint John who can’t afford to drive and depend on buses to get around.
Reardon also argues there is no such thing as a robust dynamic city without a transit system.
The provision in the draft city budget that contained a 270 thousand dollar cut to the police department was not going to fly. That, according to Councillor John MacKenzie, a member of the the Police Commission.
MacKenzie says the time has long past to start replacing the number of police who have retired. There are 20 fewer police officers as compared to just a few years ago and MacKenzie says the amount of overtime this year has been a huge problem.
The Police Commission submitted a budget with a zero per cent increase for next year. New Police Chief John Bates says included in that budget would be funding to hire four new police officers. MacKenzie says that budget submission is more thanf fair.
