Thompson-Nicola Regional District is currently seeking public input on its 2012-16 Financial Plan. The Local Government Act states, "... a regional district must have a financial plan that is adopted annually, by bylaw, by March 31. The planning period for a financial plan is five years, that period being the year in which the plan is specified to come into force and the following four years."
"Basically the public can go on our website, review the 2012-2016 Financial Plan and its highlights. And if you have comments you can fill out a form and send it to us via mail, email or fax," said Tanya Garost, director of finance.
The preparation of the financial plan begins in the fall of each year and a provisional financial plan is presented to the board of directors at that time. The financial plan incorporates requests from directors and service committees, any new services as well as staff estimates of funding amounts required to maintain current service levels. Continued on A9
The final Financial Plan is then presented in March and adopted before the deadline of March 31.
The finance department conducts public budget consultation in conjunction with other service related meetings throughout the year at various locations in the regional district. The TNRD encourages input from taxpayers from either the electoral areas or the member municipalities on the Financial Plan. The form is available at tnrd.ca underneath the orange 'Financial Plan 2012' heading. You can also access it directly at https://tnrd.civicweb.net/Documents/DocumentList.aspx?ID=60835