Budget causes worry about Glockenspiel cost
Hefty price tag and provincial budget cuts have city looking at private fundraising
After last week’s provincial budget, most city councillors want a second opinion on the cost of refurbishing Regina’s famous glockenspiel.
After months of consultation the vote on the refurbishment of the glockenspiel is set to go before city council Monday night. However, Wednesday’s provincial budget left the city without millions of dollars in funding and with the glockenspiel refurbishment cost pegged at $512,000 city councillors are saying there needs to be a way to do it for less.
“I really want to be as respectful to the German community for providing it to us and I’d like to come to a positive resolution and have the problem fixed up but in light of current situations it might be more of a long-term than a shortterm positive solution,” said Coun. Jason Mancinelli.
Coun. Lori Bresciani said she would like to look into restoring the glockenspiel in the most costeffective way.
“We need to engage our German community, the German Club, as to: do they know people in the community that can help us save costs? As well as going out and we’re getting multiple quotes. And we may even have to break down the quotes. So someone may do the clock and someone might do the clappers and the bells,” she said.
Bresciani said city council should also look into other ways of funding the restoration including private sponsorship and fundraisers.
Many councillors say the top concern for them heading into Monday’s city council meeting is how to deal with the provincial budget and what it means to the city.
“I think we have a lot of responsibilities coming our way right now and being shorted millions of dollars from the province and to try and tack on a half a million dollar restoration it kind of scares me away from having to address it right now,” Mancinelli said.
According to Coun. Jerry Flegel, the restoration was a completely different issue before the provincial budget was revealed.
“Half a million bucks looks like a lot of money right about now and I’m not saying that’s the way its going to go but I think we need to make sure we see the big picture,” he said.
Coun. Andrew Stevens is thinking along the same lines as his colleagues in regards to funding, however he also said the glockenspiel debate is part of a larger issue of how the city treats its heritage.
“I think (city hall) really need to reflect on the cultural policy that we’ve adopted. How do we resource it, what does it mean, what does it look like?” he said.
He says city council needs to look into making an art policy for the city to do a better job of advancing heritage and cultural issues.