STOP SPENDING: Wright

The spending must stop, Owen Sound Coun. Arlene Wright told her fellow councillors this week.
“We are up to our eyeballs in financial problems,” she said. “The more I think about it, the more I think we need to have a moratorium on spending.”
Wright, chairwoman of Owen Sound’s finance committee and Grey County’s current warden, said city residents are “getting more anxious” about council’s spending.
Wright’s comments came as council discussed whether or not to spend more cash on the city’s over-budget 9th St. bridge project.
In an interview after the meeting, Wright did not back off, saying she is concerned about how much spending council has authorized this year.
She said the city is taking on some massive projects — including the $38.6-million regional recreation centre and a planned sewage treatment plant upgrade — and is in urgent need of more revenue.
“There’s only so many people here paying the bill,” she said.
The city could soon “get to the point,” she said, when it must refuse senior-government grants because it will not have the money to pay for a one-third or 50% share of the cost.

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