A city council committee gave tentative approval for an approximately $260,000 core service review on Wednesday.
The Select Committee on Core Service Review reviewed the sole contractor bid to conduct a comprehensive review of city services, costs and revenue. Committee member Frank Everitt said international accounting firm KPMG bid $249,000 for the contract to conduct the work, plus a five per cent administration fee, which would bring the total cost to $261,450.
"I'm pleased that it came in under what we looked at for a number," Everitt said.
In January, city council approved a $350,000 contingency fund to conduct the core service review.
The core service review committee unanimously approved a recommendation that city council approve KPMG's bid - with three conditions.
The committee recommended the contract not be signed until conditions requiring well-defined interim reports to the committee, "significantly improved and expanded," stakeholder consultation, and negotiation on the five per cent administration fee and auditing of city information are added.
In addition, the committee plans to seek additional clarification from KPMG on its work plan, benchmarking of city wages, who owns the report once completed, and what information the city is expected to provide.
The report is expected to go to city council for final approval on Monday. Copies of the bid document will not be available to the public until city council's agenda is published on Friday.
Committee member Cameron Stolz said the conditions may result in a different final cost for the core service review.
Stolz said despite the clarifications, he was impressed by the bid document.
"They really understand and grasp what we're looking for," he said.
City council will consider the report at Monday's city council meeting.
