It appears the city will move ahead with cutting transit service, despite pleas from bus riders at a council meeting earlier this month to keep the Friday night buses on the road.

At Monday's city council meeting, the city's manager of financial services, Valerie Anderson, presented council with a report detailing what people told the city about the proposed $55.7-million 2009 operating budget.

The budget proposes to cut Friday evening transit service and bring an end to the Canada Games Centre/downtown loop route.

Numerous people spoke out against ending the Friday service at a public input session earlier.

However, the administrative report states only one per cent of riders (4.3 people per bus cycle) use the evening routes. The report continues to propose cancellation of the night time routes, after the budget is adopted.

Though the budget is expected to be adopted next week, staff are recommending the city hold off on the cuts until the end of March.

"It should be noted that due to notice requirements under existing employment contracts, administration recommends the operating budget bylaw will be amended to continue (the) downtown loop and Friday night service until the end of March at a cost of $29,000," reads the 12-page document on the input into the budget.

For one city councillor, that raises questions on why the downtown loop didn't end when the original pilot project date was up on Dec. 31.

If it wasn't functioning, why is it being continued into March, Coun. Dave Stockdale wondered.

"I'm just not happy with that," he said. He argued it should have ended in December after operations manager Brian Crist explained that rather than changing the schedule twice in a few months (first in December with the loop, then taking out the Friday service after), officials opted to go with changing the schedule once.

Each time the bus schedule is revamped, Crist said, riders have to get used to it all over again.

While the city moves toward cutting service if it adopts the budget, it is also looking at asking residents how they want to pay for the service.

"The potential of adding an annual transit fee to tax or as a utility billing has been identified as a plebiscite question for the fall 2009 election and will be brought forward for further discussion at a later time," reads the report to council.

After taking issue with the plans for city transit, Stockdale went on to argue over the 15 per cent hike in water and sewer fees (see story, p. 2) along with the proposal to move the $10,000 earmarked for Crime Prevention Yukon (which recently dissolved) into the programs operated out of the Canada Games Centre's Chillax'n Lounge, a hang-out space for teenagers.

"The Chillax'n Lounge program at the Canada Games Centre is proving to be very effective at attracting youth and the attending continue to grow," reads the report.

"Staff are working on creating partnerships that may bring additional resources to the program; however, in the interim, these funds will be very well utilized."

Stockdale argued the city was making the decision to just flip $10,000 over into the lounge too quickly.

City staff noted the move was proposed because the Chillax'n Lounge programs are the ones most closely resembling the initiatives of Crime Prevention Yukon.

The city also heard comments, among other topics, on the importance of economic development and tourism, with the city cutting its planned economic development strategy update.

With a potential alternate funding source found for the project, the city may be able to move ahead with it, Anderson noted.

The city will vote on whether to move ahead with the proposed operating budget at next week's meeting.

Councillors Dave Austin and Doug Graham were absent from Monday's meeting with Coun. Jan Stick attending by conference call.