Sunday, May 17, 2015

Oak Bay's Deer Cull Was a Good Deal More Than $16,000


Mayor Jensen recently insisted at a council meeting that the cost of the deer cull was only $16,000. He spoke to media shortly after the cull, naming Ron Kerr as the contractor who was paid, an amount which exceeds the terms of the Request for Proposal:

 
He also does not acknowledge that the cost of the deer count, undertaken in April 2014 (not June, as Mayor and staff are inexplicably claiming – for proof of the timeline, see the blog post from April 11, 2014) was a requirement for obtaining the permit to cull. That cost:

Update June 10, 2015: an FOI request by Liz White has revealed that the actual cost for Pace Group Communications - hired to make the cull more palatable to the public and to help with trap setup - was $7,537.68 (Invoice #003) and $5,145.00 (Invoice # 004). 

The CRD Budget Estimates for Oak Bay Deer Management Pilot Project implementation follows. Residents will not have access to the final budget breakdown, but this will help us to understand the costs that Oak Bay does not want to discuss.