A CK councillor is hoping council can examine and eliminate any unnecessary spending amid the threat of tariffs and economic uncertainty as a way to support the community.
Ward Six representative Alysson Storey put forth a notice of motion at the April 7 council meeting asking for members to vote for a report of all non-essential and non-critical municipal spending over $200,000.
“I’m hoping we can take a look at some of our larger spending items, or perhaps items we have currently committed to, and review if those can be redirected, even temporarily, during this tariff nightmare,” the Ward 6 councillor said.
Storey said she hopes that redirecting these funds would allow the municipality to create “contingency measures or emergency plans if our community is really impacted in a negative way by the tariffs.”
Tariff uncertainty and the impact it could have on the local economy is something Storey said has been expressed to her by residents. She said she hopes this report and the redirecting of funds would be a good way to address it at a municipal level.
“We need to make sure we are making responsible financial decisions, and sometimes those are tough decisions, and those nice-to-do projects might have to be put on the shelf,” said Storey. “And so I wanted us to take a critical look at our spending, and we have a very capable senior administration who can look at that on our behalf, and as a council we need to decide if that is something we want to take forward.”
One “nice-to-do” project Storey sees the proposed CK Community Hub development as part of that conversation.
“I don’t think right now that is a reasonable expense that we should be looking at,” said Storey. “Financially, we should not be prepared to commit to that, especially in these uncertain economic times.”
While mostly functional, the existing Civic Centre will still need more than $30 million in repairs if the Hub project is scrapped.
Storey’s motion will go before council at the May 12 meeting.
“We represent the citizens of this community,” said Storey. “And if the citizens of this community are struggling or we fear they are at risk economically of losing their jobs, we need to be prepared for that. That is literally our jobs as elected representatives.”
