Town of Collingwood
Budget Trimming Process Continues
Cuts To Extended Colltrans Service Discussed
The process of trimming the 2010 budget continues. At the regular meeting of Collingwood Town Council on Monday, February 1st, the new extended ours of the town's municipal bus service (Colltrans) were discussed. Council was asked to consider the possibility of cutting back on the hours of service to save money. Collus Executive Director Ed Houghton said that the town could save an estimated 80 thousand dollars by beginning the morning service at 7am instead of 6:30am, and ending daily service at 7pm instead of 9pm.
"We are attempting to find reductions in our Operation & Maintenance budgets and the scaling back of the extended hours was one suggestion. The savings would mainly be in our cost of operating the bus by our Contractor Sinton Bus Lines. A small portion of fuel but mainly contractor costs" Houghton said.
The town extended the hours of operation of the Colltrans service in 2009 on a trial basis.
In addition, Council heard from Fire Chief Trent Elyea regarding the proposed hiring of four new full time firefighters and one administration person this year at a cost of almost 123 thousand dollars. The matter has been deferred while additional information is gathered.