Is St. John’s City Council’s decision not to fund the school crossing guard programme an indication of its priorities and principles for the city’s 2012 budget?
We can only hope.
The principle behind the school crossing guard programme is “it’s not a municipal responsibility”.
Council should inform us of other activities it will apply this principle to.
I can think of a couple.
Tourism is a provincial responsibility, yet not only does the city give Destination St. John’s an annual grant, it has it’s own tourism department! Savings of 2 – 3 million dollars available here.
There is also the city’s grant ($100,000) for the Aquarena.
Upcoming there will be the $1 million in annual maintenance costs for the (provincial) Gushue Highway extension.
I’m sure there are others.
It is interesting this argument is being applied to a service that is budgeted at $125,000 for the year. This is $125,000 of a $225 million budget!
Surely there are ways to have this service funded. Can there be a three-way cost share between Eastern School District, Provincial Government and the City? What about sponsorship? Or maybe the city can redirect some of the surplus subsidy it provides to St. John’s Sports and Entertainment (SJSE). For the past two years, SJSE has declared surplus funding of at least $500,000. Take $125,000 of this and direct it to the school crossing guard programme.
Priorities? Principles?
One can certainly argue the city should not be involved in the entertainment business. Let me see…concerts and entertainment or children’s safety?
I applaud the principle of “it’s not a municipal responsibility”, but it has to be applied consistently and fairly. It is not an optional principle.
The city should re-consider its decision not to continue the funding of the school crossing guard programme. Why not provide funding until another solution is found to ensure this valuable safety initiative is maintained for the children of St. John’s?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
0 comments:
Post a Comment