Folks looking to find out what is in the 2020 budget for the town of Battleford will need to wait a little longer.
The presentation of the budget had been one of the items listed on the agenda of Monday’s town council meeting in Battleford. But at the last minute, it was scratched from the agenda.
The reason, according to Mayor Ames Leslie, is that council needed more time to go through the asks in the budget before it is presented to the full council.
“They have some more questions on some of the asks and wasn’t ready to go public with the session,” Leslie said to reporters following the meeting.
The goal now, said Leslie, is to hold another council-only session to go through the budget. Once that is done the intention is to hold a public session at Town Hall open to the public and media, at which time the budget will be presented.
It is not known when that public meeting will happen, but Leslie said the public and media will be informed on when that will be. Leslie also expressed confidence that the budget will still be approved on schedule on Dec. 16, as originally intended.
“Getting the budget done before Christmas gives the town and administration the ability to get tenders out in a timely fashion,” said Leslie. One of those major projects is the lagoon project south of the town.
“The sooner we get the budget approved the quicker our people can get it out and start getting things going.”
