Mayor Dennis Fenske is defending the City’s operational spending.
A recent CFIB report ranked Thompson 20th out of 26 Manitoba municipalities in unnecessary operating spending.
Fenske says the report doesn’t take into account Thompson’s geographical location:
"We are in a Northern community, with competitive wages to compete with industry in our community and so if you don’t have competitive wages, you’re not going to have those people working for us. I can defend our wage package quite easily, and I’ll admit, it is higher than southern Manitoba but the cost of living, and being in the geographical location that we are you need that higher wage to attract oeople to our community and keep them in our community".
The report criticized the City’s spending for items like protective services and recreation. Fenske says Thompson has an RCMP contract that is decided by the Government of Canada and the RCMP, without the input of the City.
See: Thompson ranks 20th our of 26 Manitoba municipalities in unneccessary operating spending
