The mayor's job in Dawson City is about to become part-time.

'I will no longer be a full-time mayor in Dawson City,' Mayor Glen Everitt said in an interview this morning.

The mayor's position is being reduced as part of the financial planning the town is going through with its government-appointed supervisor, Andre Carrel.

While the financial plan is not complete, Everitt was able to confirm some cuts that will be made to the town's budget.

However, it was not Carrel who decided on the cut.

Everitt said it was his own idea to pare the budget for the mayor's salary down to $24,000 a year from $49,000.

After hearing Community Services Minister Glenn Hart compare Dawson City to Watson Lake, Everitt expected Carrel would want Dawson's budget for mayor and council to be similar to that of the other community.

Everitt said Watson Lake's budget for mayor and council is $50,000 annually, while Dawson's was at $141,000.

The mayor said Dawson's total included money for him to travel and promote the town in an effort to attract events and business to the community. Watson Lake's budget for mayor and council does not include that promotion and travel, he said.

Realizing Carrel, who was hired to develop a financial plan for the town, would likely want to see Dawson's mayor and council budget cut to $50,000, Everitt wrote an e-mail to the supervisor at the beginning of the month.

In that e-mail, Everitt suggested cutting his job in half. The mayor also asked Carrel to keep the suggestion to himself, as Everitt wanted to inform the rest of council of the idea.

But Carrel passed the e-mail on to the councillors, so they knew Everitt's plan before the mayor could tell them.

In setting the guidelines for the town's budget and financial plan, Carrel later indicated that yes, the mayor and council spending should be $50,000 a year.

'Which was essentially saying, Everitt, get out of that office,' ' or all other spending will be cut.

In discussions between the council and Carrel on the financial plan, the mayor said the supervisor has been flexible. According to Everitt, the final mayor and council budget will be $63,000, similar to what it was in 1994.

That budget will pair $24,000 a year for the mayor, plus the councillors' salaries and travel for Association of Yukon Communities board meetings and for one person to attend the annual meeting of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities.

The mayor will no longer be able to travel to trade shows to promote his town.

Those are not the only cuts Everitt could confirm. 'We are definitely doing major slashes,' the mayor said.

The budget for grants given out to community groups will also be chopped substantially. That budget was at $171,000, but that's now been reduced to $100,400.

Everitt said groups in the community will be getting less money than expected. Two groups that were expecting money will receive nothing.

'That's the reality of this exercise,' said Everitt. There were some tough decisions to make, but the council made them, working with Carrel's guidelines, he added.

Everitt would not name the groups since that could change before the financial plan is finalized tomorrow.

Carrel announced in Dawson he will be holding a public meeting to discuss the financial plan with the residents.

The supervisor announced the plans for the meeting via the mail, without consulting the town council.

Everitt said council will meet again with Carrel tonight to further hammer out the financial plan. As well, there could be another session during the day tomorrow, but tonight may be the final gathering.

If the council, working with Carrel, does not finalize the financial plan before tomorrow night's public meeting, Carrel would do it himself, according to Everitt.

Carrel has indicated to the mayor his contract expires at the end of the month. He wants to have the plan and his final report for the minister completed by then.

Since Carrel has the final say, there may be some changes council does not make, said Everitt.

The mayor said last night's meeting with Carrel, who the town has quarrelled with recently, was 'very positive.'

According to Everitt, Carrel is also establishing the criteria for when the supervisor thinks the town council should be fired and a trustee should be appointed by the government.

Carrel's recommendation is contingent on the final award established by an arbitrator in the dispute between the town and the contractor that was hired to build Dawson's new recreation complex.

The two sides have been embroiled in a dispute and have gone to an arbitrator in Vancouver to settle the matter.

According to Everitt, Carrel is establishing that if the arbitrator orders the town pays the contractor $1.5 million or more, the government should consider Dawson City 'de facto bankrupt,' and would have to think about hiring a trustee to take over.

Everitt said the town has a contingency plan of $1.23 million.

If the award is less than $500,000, the money would come from the budget cuts the community is making.

If it is between $500,000 and $1.23 million, the rest of the money would come from the $730,000 left in a loan between the government and the town which Hart has withheld from Dawson.

If the award is between $1.23 million and $1.5 million, the unspecified $260,000 in the town's capital budget would be used as well.

Friday's meeting will be held at the Yukon Order of Pioneers hall in Dawson, beginning at 7 p.m.

Carrel will give a short presentation on the financial plan, then field questions.

Everitt said there will be no ability for council to put forward its take on issues since he and the members will be at the meeting but in the audience, not making the presentation with Carrel.

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