4.20.2009

City Budget Passes

Regina's 2009 municipal budget* passed unanimously tonight. No big surprise there. Election year + 0% mill rate increase = teh awesome. There will be more on this in Thursday's prairie dog, but suffice to say, it was another very upbeat council meeting. And from the sounds of things, it was a much brisker deliberation than in years past.
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* Actually, there were several budget documents considered: the General Operating Budget, the General Capital Budget, the Police Service Operating and Capital Budgets, the RPL Budget, the Water and Sewer Budgets, the Warehouse Business Improvement District Budget and the Downtown Business Improvement District Budget. They all passed.

Laura Barrett at the Exchange tomorrow?

I just want to put a word out there for Laura Barrett who may / or may not be playing tomorrow night at the Exchange. The concert is strangely absent from the Exchange's website, but it IS confirmed on Barrett's myspace. Hmmm. Waiting for a response from the Exchange on this one...
Should be good if she plays

Six In The Morning (Deadline Edition)

A fastfastfast look at the world on a sunny Saskatchewan Monday:

1 IT'S PRONOUNCED "ACK-DICK" AC/DC tickets go on sale and some Regina fans can't get tickets and they're very angry. This link is definitely worth visiting by the way, for the hilarious "Highway to Hell for you people" quote. (Leader Post)

2 MOURNING FOR COLUMBINE High school massacre marks 10th anniversary, and police officers who were at the scene recall the shootings. (BBC, Columbine Courier)

3 BRING ME A BUCKET Turns out the admitted Al Qaeda mastermind behind the 9-11 attacks was waterboarded 183 times by U.S. interrogators. Waterboarding is the torture technique that makes victims feel as though they are drowning, except the previous government didn't call it torture because torture makes it sound like something bad. (New York Times)

4 CHINA WALL GETS GREATER Another 180 miles discovered under shrubbery and such. (Guardian)

5 STANDOFF ENDS A "deranged" gunman who held passengers and crew of a Canadian plane hostage in Jamaica has been captured and nobody was injured. (Globe And Mail)

6 PICKING UP THE PIECES The CAW and Chrysler negotiate to meet the Conservative government's cost-cutting demands. (CP/Toronto Star)

This Week at City Hall

Monday, April 20
City Council Meeting (5:30 pm): This is a special meeting convened to deal exclusively with the 2009 Budget. Will be interesting to see how this goes down. Looks like we'll be getting everything the city could hope for -- and that includes no property tax increase. Wow. Feels like one of those Don't Pay A Cent Events at the Brick. Forget that a modest boost to the mill rate might give us a little breathing room should things turn sour in a year or two. I guess even a half-a-tick tax bump would be too much to ask for in an election year.

Thursday, April 23
Board of Police Commissioners Meeting (9 am): Considering a recommendation to continue the $25,000 reward for information about Tamra Keepness. Also considering monthly crime stats. Crimes against property for March 2009 are down 17.6 per cent over March 2008 while crimes against people are up 19.4 per cent.

As always, full reports and meeting agendas are available on the city's website.