A report detailing the municipality's use of consultants last year is headed to Chatham-Kent Council.
Over $5.3-million worth in consultant fees was outsourced last year. When you subtract any funding or revenue, the actual cost to taxpayers was just over $3.4-million. That's an increase of $165,000 from the year before.
Municipal staff points to the increase in use of computer consultants for a new computer project and a decrease in stimulus funding for the overall net cost going up. Gross expenditures in 2013 were actually over $300,000 less than the year before but the municipality received almost $500,000 more in grant money in 2012.
The summary doesn't include the Chatham-Kent Public Utilities Commission, Entegrus or any of its subsidiaries. The report headed to council tonight is strictly an information package and doesn't require any discussion or approval.