A budget line item that became a sticking point for Port Coquitlam city council on how goods and services are bought for the RCMP detachment was green-lighted this week.
On Tuesday, PoCo's budget and infrastructure committee approved a $44,200 request from Coquitlam to pay for part of a contract to paint the first floor of the RCMP building.
Both cities share the costs of the maintaining the public safety building, located on Guildford Way in Coquitlam.
PoCo had deferred the capital expense after voicing concern about how Coquitlam had sole control over the RCMP procurement policy.
This week, PoCo council met with Coquitlam's elected officials and managers behind closed doors about the 1995 Public Safety Building Operating Agreement; both PoCo and Coquitlam's communications staff declined to comment on the outcome of the meeting.
Meanwhile, PoCo council is expected to give first reading to its 2016 budget on April 25. Its finance committee last month okayed, in principal, to fund a number of big-ticket items from the accumulated surplus account including:
• $60,000 for a festival and events committee;
• $30,000 for parklets;
• $18,000 for the PoCo Sports Alliance;
• $15,000 for a Rapid Bus Transit Study;
• and $10,000 for a public piano.
The proposed tax rate is set to rise 3.49% this year to pay for four more Mounties and to save for a new community recreation centre, in the downtown core.
The property tax increase, if approved by council, would translate to another $70 for the homeowners in a single-family house, $55 for town homes and $32 for apartments; however, sewer, water and garbage rates will remain the same as last year.
Under provincial legislation, municipal budget and tax rate bylaws must be adopted by May 15.
jwarren@tricitynews.com
