It wasn’t a letter to Santa, but rather one to council, that asked why the city is spending $300,000 on artificial Christmas trees instead of the real thing.
Council approved the expenditure, at its May 26 meeting, to replace artifical trees that go up every December in Stuart and Rutland Centennial parks.
“It’s just an amazingly large cost,” Councillor Gord Lovegrove noted, referencing the letter.
According to staff, there was a real tree during Christmas at Rutland Centennial Park up until about 15 years ago.
“But with the focus on growing our (tree) canopy cutting a healthy tree down and sticking it in for display purposes for three or four weeks was deemed to be wasteful,” Geert Bos, public works manager, explained to council.
The artificial replacement trees are 40-feet tall and will be paid for from city reserves.
