DAWSON CITY 'I'm Andre Carrel. I'll be your waiter tonight.'

With those words, the territorial government's appointed supervisor of Dawson's finances opened a public meeting he'd called for Friday evening.

Carrel called for an inquiry into the management of three projects Dawson has carried out over the last several years: the renovation/relocation of the town hall/firehall complex, the new swimming pool and the recreation centre.

Early in the meeting, he presented his menu the almost-final version (draft 3) of his report on what the government has termed Dawson's 'financial crisis'. An earlier draft presented to the local chamber of commerce should now be considered obsolete, listeners were told.

He explained to the Yukon Order of Pioneers Hall audience, which grew to more than 70 people during the two- hour presentation, that he had been appointed by the government to 'help the City of Dawson develop a financial plan.'

Its third draft had been arrived at after much discussion and consultation with the council, he said. Most of the detailed decisions on how to reach his stated objective had been theirs, not his, Carrel added.

As his outline, he used the 20 recommendations he is making, 10 to the town and 10 to the government, as a result of his studies since early last October.

He repeatedly said there was no point trying to assign blame for Dawson's fiscal situation. Decisions were made by a series of councils, and the actions they took were not checked by a series of governments, Carrel said.

Although the government does not have a contractual obligation to assist the town out of the mess, he said, it could probably be argued it has a moral one.

The supervisor said he wasn't interested in the history leading up to today's troubles, so had not consulted with his predecessor, Ken Hodgins, who the government fired last fall.

The town, he said, had simply gotten into a state where it had more money going out than it had coming in.

'Wishing it were otherwise ain't gonna work. Blaming won't work either.'

Carrel said his main objective as a supervisor was to set aside a $1.2-million contingency fund to safeguard against a negative finding in the TSL/City of Dawson arbitration case concerning the recreation centre. It's currently being studied by an arbitrator, whose report is expected by March.

Carrel said the town could find an additional $150,000 to cover a damaging award, so he wouldn't recommend that the council be replaced unless the damages exceed $1.35 million.

At that point, he said, the government should appoint a trustee and dissolve the council, or the council should move to dissolve itself. He also indicated this might not happen, and the government could decide to keep the council in place and help the town.

Additionally, the town might actually win the arbitration, in which case, 'You won't need a supervisor to tell you how to spend the money,' Carrell said.

Any award, he believes, would go to servicing Dawson's debt, which had grown to $4.2 million level by the end of 2003, resulting in debt payments of $466,000 being budgeted for the 2004 fiscal year.

There are, he said, two ways to change the fiscal picture. One was to increase revenues by raising taxes and utility fees. Some of this has already been announced for this year. The other, and the primary method, said Carrel, is to reduce expenses.

Here, he made a clear distinction between what he called 'hard' and 'soft' services. Hard services are the responsibilities generally outlined in the Municipal Act sewer and water, street maintenance and protective services.

Soft services include 'recreation, community development and grants to organizations, Carrel said.

'It is in this area that council has the greatest flexibility to reduce expenditures,' he said.

Just under $250,000 came out of this area of the budget. Community development took a major hit, dropping from $219,000 in 2003 to $100,400.

One of the other major reductions occurred in the area of government services (council and administration). About $87,000 in savings were taken from cutting Mayor Glen Everitt's salaried time in half and 'the virtual elimination of travel, hosting, meeting and similar expenditures from all members of council and management staff, and from a reduction in employee benefits.'

With January almost over, Carrel said, this means a seven-per-cent reduction in the 2003 expenses of the town in all these areas will come out of the period from March to December.

Carrel acknowledged the existence of a prior financial plan, but characterized it as too 'fluid' a document in his report.

'In consideration of the weaknesses in the financial plan in effect at the time of my appointment, I concluded that the interests of the municipality would best be served by developing a new financial plan,' he wrote.

Many of his criticisms dealt with the handling of the capital funding agreement. He said he did not know why such a pact was reached by either side when it appeared to have been obvious the sums involved would be insufficient for either the recreation or the sewer and water project. The funding agreement should have been renegotiated and rewritten to reflect reality, he said.

He criticized the town for what he felt was lax accounting of its expenditures related to the funding agreement. He was equally critical of the government for not objecting to this or requiring a higher standard.

Here, his recommendations go beyond the present situation to apply to the entire territory:

• Public sector accounting standards should be adopted for use by the government and all municipalities, since the Yukon currently has no standard at all.

• Multiple capital construction projects should not be bundled into single capital funding agreements, as was done in Dawson.

ï, A new format for capital funding agreements should be developed which would set improved standards for 'performance and accountability.'

Tied in with all of this was a recommendation for a full public inquiry to determine what happened to the three projects in Dawson and how the money was spent.

There were a number of questions from the audience, but many of them dealt with the amplification of things Carrel had already said.

Residents who were sympathetic to council, or defending certain types of expenses, made their points.

Those who wanted to see 'a hanging' (as one comment was made before the meeting began) were probably disappointed.

Carrel, based in British Columbia, repeated he wasn't in Dawson for that. He was here to fix a specific problem.

'The chickens have come home to roost,' he said at one point. Voters themselves had to bear some of the responsibility, he added.

'Once every three years, me make X' it's not enough,' he said.

Citizens need to ask the tough questions earlier, attend meetings, find out information and persuade their elected officials to act responsibly, he said.