The Corporation of Hamilton is doing “less with less” to ensure it remains a going concern, according to Mayor Charles Gosling.He told a town-hall meeting that the fall in revenue suffered by City Hall after the Municipalities Reform Act came into effect meant “a lot of time has been spent balancing our books”.Mr Gosling said the last town hall meeting was held by the Corporation in March 2011 and energies since then had been focused on reducing expenses and ensuring staff were not laid off.He said 2011 followed a year in which revenue had already fallen by $2.1 million due to less parking and fewer imports, the latter meaning less wharfage fee income.In February 2011, the Mayor added, the municipality learned that the wharfage fees of more than $6 million it had expected to receive would instead be replaced with a $5 million grant from Government.“Quickly it was determined we could only guarantee the continuance of the Corporation by doing less with less,” he said.The Mayor said the reduced revenue meant:n Capital projects had to be stretched out;n The overdue traffic light replacement programme was extended for another year;n The installation of new lights on the container dock was scrapped for the time being;n Work schedules were revised, with some base pay levels increased but overtime reduced;n Retirees and other exiting Corporation employees were not replaced.He told the meeting at Hamilton Seventh-day Adventist Church on Tuesday that the municipality was helped by an influx of one-time payments from new buildings owing city taxes and that, as a result, the year ended with a positive cash flow.Finance committee chairman Councillor Dennis Tucker said the Corporation had been required to adapt to the circumstances in 2011 or fail. “We chose to adapt,” he said, adding that there had been no staff layoffs or redundancies.Mr Tucker said City Hall had expected to receive $6.5 million in revenue, compared to the $5 million grant it got.“As a result of this grant, our auditors could not give us the comfort that we could be an ongoing concern,” he said. “We found we were not able to make any type of borrowing from any of the lending institutions.“As a result of that ... we had to scale back on our capital expenditure.”Mr Tucker added: “At the end of the year we anticipate our financial position to be at a net income of about $900,000.“At the end of the year, the Corporation, financially, will be in very good shape. At the end of the day, I think a good job [has been] done by all.”Alderman Pamela Ferreira, chairman of the development committee, said a plan to develop Cavendish car park had been put on hold until there was “more opportunity and money” available.Of plans for a luxury hotel on the site of Par-la-Ville car park, she said: “The Corporation entered into a number of agreements with Par-la-Ville Hotels and Residences Ltd to develop the property into a five-storey hotel.“This matter is currently before the courts and I can’t go into any more detail than that, other than that we expect the matter to be settled by the courts soon.”Ms Ferreira added that there was good news in relation to the plan to transform Hamilton’s waterfront as Premier Paula Cox and the First Bermuda group were now “leading the initiative to reignite” the project.The meeting later heard that the funding for the multimillion dollar scheme would not come from the Corporation’s budget.Useful website: www.cityhall.bm.