http://news.sympatico.cbc.ca/Local/BC/ContentPosting?newsitemid=vancouver-bc-vancouver-mayor-council-olympic-renovation&feedname=CBC_LOCALNEWS&show=False&number=0&showbyline=True&subtitle=&detect=&abc=abc&date=True
SUMMARYDue to the 2010 $61 million budget shortfall, the city of Vancouver revealed late last month that 60 jobs would be cut to deal with the budget shortfall. However, recent documents show that the city had spent close to a million dollars on renovations and upgrades for the mayor's office and councilors' offices, council chambers and committee rooms. Documents show that the city had recently spent $263,000 for bathrooms and other general renovations, $148,000 for new carpeting, $2,900 to oil the wood walls in the mayor's office, $4,000 for new picture frames for the photos of past mayors, and $2,700 to touch up the gold gilding on the ceiling. Gregor Robertson, Vancouver's mayor argues that it was necessary to have the upgrades and renovations for the city hall "presentable" for the 2010 Olympic Games.
CONNECTION
This article is related to Chapter 2 because Chapter 2 mainly talks about "Business Transactions Analysis and Financial Statement Effects". Many transactions are mentioned in this article with much effect on different accounts. First of all, those who had lost their jobs due to the multimillion dollar budget shortfall no longer have cash coming in, which effects their lives dramatically. It is like a domino affect, without cash, those who are unemployed will not be able to pay off their expenses, such as phone bills, and when companies do not receive their monthly payments, they will have difficulties paying for their expenses. As for the city of Vancouver, the cash account will decrease while accounts such as building, equipment will increase due to the renovations. In this article we can see that the 2010 Olympic Games has caused many changes in the city's financial statements.
REFLECTION
In my opinion, it is not fair for the city losing 60 jobs, when nearly a million dollars worth of upgrade and renovations went towards the city hall. Personally I do not believe that the renovations for the city hall was necessary for the coming of the 2010 Olympic Games. Having Vancouver hold the 2010 Olympic Games is a great honor, but it has brought our city to a major budget shortfall, and now we are losing jobs, is it really worth it? Hopefully in the future, better financial decisions will be made.
2 comments:
I agree with you in that making the city hall “presentable” for the Olympics is far-fetched considering most visitors will be out at the event venues and other attractions during the Games. However, while the city did go a bit overboard with the city hall renovations, the weak economy, financial cuts from the federal and provincial government, and the implementation of the HST all influenced the budget shortfall. Cutting employees is probably one of the better choices that would affect the least number of citizens, compared to alternatives such as increasing property taxes.
Well said. When the city of Vancouver was chosen to host the 2010 Winter Olympics, many people were afraid that the event would place a lot of stress and unbalance on the city. Unbalances such as financial issues were probably the most influential factor in this case. I personally do not believe that that spending that much tax payer dollars to renovate the mayor’s office was completely necessary, some funds are better placed into more important areas such as schools and the communities. Also, with a new HST coming up and a possible toll on bridges that go to Richmond, it’s almost as if the government is trying to strain money out of rocks.
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