With the 2018 budget meetings set to get underway soon, the Town of Gibsons is making about $438,000 in adjustments to its current budget, including $75,675 to cover “unplanned professional services fees.”
The numbers are in a Dec. 5 report to council from director of finance Ian Poole.
Poole said the professional services fees were mainly for legal work and for human resources consultants to help with a recent reorganization, and not necessarily a reflection of the costs of dealing with court challenges and other issues around the George Hotel project.
The Town has been expected to give a detailed accounting of the cost of the various challenges related to the George project after claiming earlier this year that one case alone cost the Town in the range of $80,000.
Chief administrative officer Emanuel Machado said that report is still in the works. “It will probably be February or March by the time we compile all the invoicing. Some of these accounts are still ongoing, but I think by March we’ll be in a much better position to report on this year.”
Poole’s report said on the revenue side, the Town has brought in an extra $29,155 because Vancouver Coastal Health extended its stay in the offices it was leasing from the Town.
On the expense side, the budget needs to be amended to include $15,000 for an EV charging station in lower Gibsons and $18,300 for a new truck. Capital reserves will be used to cover those amounts.
The Town also spent an extra $20,000 for “unplanned building maintenance/additions.”
The budget also needs to be amended to show the $280,000 in contributions received by the Town on behalf of the Gibsons Public Market, which flow through to the society running the Market.
