Dryden Shortchanged in Transitional Funding

The City of Dryden has been forced to change the 2010 Municipal Budget.
The City was banking on $1.4-million in transitional funding from the Province, but has been advised that it will only see $431,000.
Staff looked at the roughly $1-million shortfall and made some reductions.
To balance the books, the City cut an additional $500,000 from the Capital budget and another half-million from the operations side.
The employee travel and training budget has been slashed by $100,000 and a staff position at the Facilities Management Department has been eliminated.
The City has also taken some cash out of the Hydro Reserve fund to cover the difference.
Treasurer Linda McNaughton says the 5-year outlook doesn’t look as bad as 2010, so that’s why they managed to avoid major staff cuts.