Nam Kular

Everyone loves it when they put on an old winter coat for the first time in months, and happen to find a crisp fiver — or, better yet, a $20 — in a pocket.

But that doesn’t mean it’s an instant trip to the liquor store, or a dozen doughnuts for the office.

Well, in some cases, it does. But it’s your money.

It’s quite different when it’s the city finding an extra $64 million in taxpayer dollars sitting around thanks to a dry winter, among other efficiencies.

So while it’s natural to see people running with their hands out, or wild suggestions coming to council — buy back the Trappers baseball team, really? — it isn’t really the time to rush around spending it on frivolities.

But there are some nice-to-haves that are getting a second look because we’ve come into some extra cash.

Nuit Blanche and the Edmonton City as Museum project both lost in close votes last fall, and it has been suggested the money, a total of just shy of $600,000 for both, could get a little love now that we have a little pocket change.

Those seem a pittance, and it’s hard to argue with small bits of funding for fun one-offs.

But small funding asks add up, and when talking about the city budget, some factors need to be included.

There’s the downturn in the economy. The carbon tax.

Edmontonians, like many Albertans, are feeling the pinch.

Coun. Mike Nickel, very aware of that fact, suggested a bit of tax relief for the average homeowner.

It’s true that surpluses aren’t used to offset spending to give people less of a hit on their tax bill, because that money is merely one-time funding.

The following year, that money would have to be found somewhere else in the budget.

But the city could use part of the surplus to offer a one-time tax credit, or pay for part of the tax increase.

It may look like politicking in an election year, but it’s an idea that bears discussion.

Original Article Appeared on Sun Media