City grants to help seniors cover their monthly utility bills will not be cut, council decided Monday night as it passed its $58.1-million annual budget for 2005.

Coun. Dave Stockdale said council's decision to reverse itself on the senior utility grant marks the first time in the memory of the longest-serving member that council has agreed to change its budget proposal because of public input.

But as council backed away from its plan to reduce the grant from $500 per year to $450 for an annual savings of $16,000, it moved forward with cuts in several other areas.

In addition to eliminating the $6,000 receptions and promotions fund to make up the $16,000, council cut into the travel budgets for the mayor and councillors.

As well, it will implement a new $7,000-agreement with the Hamlet of Mount Lorne for use of the Whitehorse landfill.

'I am not happy,' Mayor Ernie Bourassa said somewhat tersely by conference call of the decision to cut his $12,000-travel budget while he was away on holidays.

He told council he noticed it was his travel budget that took the biggest hit from a percentage calculation. However, it was quickly pointed out by a chorus of giddish councillors that his worship took the biggest cut because his is by far the fattest travel budget.

Bourassa retorted just as quickly that his is the largest because he's the one expected to travel most often to represent the city.

'We'll help you get back,' quipped Coun. Bev Buckway.

'Trust us,' added acting mayor Doug Graham.

'Well, I've heard that before,' said the mayor.

'You know, when the cat's away....' said Stockdale.

Of the $58.1 million the city will spend this year, $37.8 million will go toward operation and maintenance and $20.3 million will be aimed at capital expenditures.

The budget calls for a two-per-cent increase in property taxes and a two-per-cent boost in utilities, as part of the three-year revenue plan unveiled by council in its 2004 annual budget.

First reading of the budget was passed Dec. 13, with second and third readings approved last night following the budget amendments.

Approval, however, did not come before Graham issued a stark caution about the importance of city hall guarding budget expenditures with its life, or facing financial peril.

The property tax and utility increases are a direct result of the rising cost to operate the multiplex, the acting mayor insisted. He said the recreation budget has gone up by $1 million over the last year, and will climb by another $1 million over the next year.

Graham said in the next year, the recreation budget will be the city's largest single line item.

'We must take care in management to control cost, or I am afraid our budget will get away from us,' he said.

Before criticizing what he felt was $153,000 in wasted computer expenditures over the last three years, Graham did point out the city's computer team has done a remarkable job of co-ordinating the city's system.

He said the city, however, has wasted $51,000 a year over the last three years on what he described as unnecessary computer equipment and maintenance.

And the acting mayor said he worried city hall is about to squander more money this year on unnecessary computer equipment.

Graham said he's pleased city council agreed to reverse its cutback on the utility grant, but also noted he'll be looking at ways where the city can begin making the use of city facilities more affordable for seniors.

In addition to looking at reducing user fees for seniors, he said, he will also look at providing seniors living in the city's rural subdivisions with a break on the fees they're charged to drop off garbage at the Whitehorse dump.

The 2005 budget also carries an increase for seniors to use the new swimming pool, a hike that seniors have said will make it much tougher to enjoy the facility.

Dorothy Drummond of the Yukon Council on Aging appeared before council last week to ask that it reconsider the cut to the utility grant.

Seniors, Drummond passionately argued last week, live on fixed incomes for a large part, and any increase in their monthly cost of living goes straight to the heart and right out of the grocery basket.

Drummond told council the seniors have paid their dues. It is they who have paid their taxes through the years and decades, and have contributed so much to the making the community what it is.

Stockdale said the decision to cancel the $6,000-reception and promotions grant fund is not the end of the world. There is still the $30,000-promotions fund that can be used at council's discretion.

It was also noted by council members that the fund was becoming more of a regular source of money for those organizations who knew about it and used it time and time again, rather than a general fund available for all groups.

It provided a $10-dinner subsidy to a maximum $1,000 for applicants who were hosting an event and drawing visitors to Whitehorse, though it was dished out on a first-come, first-served basis.

In discussions during last week's council meeting, it was pointed out the fund has become a dinner pot for those applicants who are quick each year to apply before any other organization, simply because they know of its existence.