It’s obvious that the economics of city hall work much differently than the economics of a private sector enterprise, and in some instances, that’s acceptable. After all, government has a different role to play in our society than most private enterprise.
Still, it’s perplexing when the economics work counterintuitively when it comes to an economic basic like supply and demand.
Take, for example, the Village of Keremeos. During recent budget discussions, it was noted - repeatedly - that several facets of village administration ended 2012 with budget surpluses - cemetery, sewer plant, public works and water operating costs to name some.
At the same time, it was noted that revenue from such things as building inspection, development cost charges, and other user pay services, fell short of budget predictions in 2012.
For the first time in several years, a regular meeting of council was cancelled due to a lack of agenda items.
In the private sector, this would indicate a business slow down, and future budgets would be built around the prospects of working in a similar economic climate.
Private business would very likely not be contemplating the hiring of additional staff at a time of similar economic performance.
It leaves us curious as to the reason(s) why the village is currently looking at adding additional staff at this time. Although such a recommendation was made in the recent core service review, it also stipulated that village businesss should be on the increase before that is done.
It appears that business is pretty slow at the village office. We think that should affect economics in the village office in a similar way it might in the private sector - if it doesn’t, it would sure be interesting to hear the reason why.