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Vernon council (File photo/Liam Verster/Vernon Matters)
By Liam Verster
City council

Vernon staff recommend using unexpended funds to top up camp, wildfire reserves

Jun 7, 2024 | 3:00 PM

The City of Vernon could be reallocating some of its unspent money into other services.

A staff report to Vernon city council stated the 2023 year-end results showed an unexpended, uncommitted balance of $3.7 million as of this past March.

At the May 27 meeting, council passed a resolution to allocate some reserve funds for the Active Living Centre, which left the unexpended reserve balance at $2,060,933.

The report recommends redistributing some of those unused funds to top up other reserves.

In 2023, the city used $49,339 of the Abandoned Camp reserve for clean-up operations throughout the city, while $153,675 of the Extreme Wildfire reserve was spent to staff Fire Station 3 at Predator Ridge during the wildfire season.

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The report recommends city council reallocate those amounts from the unexpended reserve, allowing the reserves to be topped up to their original amounts of $200,000 for wildfires and $60,000 for abandoned camps.

The staff report is on the agenda for council’s regular meeting Monday, June 10.

by Liam Verster
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