Joanne McQuarrie, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter | [email protected]
Jasper Municipal Council鈥檚 Nov. 25 public budget meeting showed the effects of the COVID pandemic, when council heard budget details from Community and Family Services and the Operations department.
Community and Family Services
Community and Family Services director Kathleen Waxer reiterated the need for CFS to be resilient in light of the COVID pandemic.
She said management and staff helped people deal with negative impacts including food insecurity, job losses, loss of child care, family violence, challenges finding a safe place to isolate and loss of childcare facilities for working parents.
Waxer said she worked hard to keep the budget amounts in each of the CFS branches at the 2019 levels.
An exception is an increase of $21,625 requested from Wildflowers Childcare, the result of the additional costs of operating in the pandemic.
Additional requests included the Senior Bus request for $10,000, computer costs and reallocation of maintenance costs.
Waxer also made a request of $35,000 to pay for continuation of the programmer position if CFS can't secure funding from other sources.
Operations
Staff from the Operations department talked about initiatives including sprinklers, fire protection, arena slab and boards project, and Activity Centre roof replacement.
Acting chief administrative officer (CAO), John Greathead, said at the moment, most of the work done in the department is of a reactive nature.
鈥淲e're looking to switch to a more predictive maintenance and asset management plan than has been previously made thus far,鈥� he said. 鈥淥ur requests are to ensure we're able to meet demands."
Gord Hutton, buildings and asset manager, said in the budget from 2019 to 2021 an $80,000 increase for contracted winter and summer services is related to utility costs, which are beyond the department鈥檚 control.
鈥淚t's a tough figure to nail down - you never know how much snow we're going to get in the winter,鈥� he said.
In the Operations budget highlights, the net increase from 2019 ($2,319,739) to 2021 ($2,469,965) is $150,226. The overall total for the Operations department in 2021 is $3,398,574 without utilities.
Mayor Richard Ireland asked if there's a way to track and demonstrate where the costs savings are being achieved.
Greathead said, the department is lacking the administrative capability at the moment.
鈥淲e can get that information but it would take away from what we're up to right now," he said.
Ireland said he appreciates it takes time and money to do the tracking. He said in previous years, council has discussed the possibility of a reserve account specific to snow clearing.
Ireland said, "Are we preparing to cushion an uncertain blow each year by having a budgeted amount and putting any surplus into a reserve account so that we can equalize the payments and be prepared for differences between heavy snow years and lighter snow years?"
Greathead said shortfalls were taken out of other budgets.
Natasha Malenchak, director of Finance and Administration, said, there is a reserve contingency of about $50,000.
A decision
Council is scheduled to make a decision about the interim operating budget at their Dec. 15 meeting.
It will allow Administration to continue with regular municipal business while council discusses the proposed operating budget, which should be adopted by Mar. 30, 2021, to allow enough time for the preparation of the tax rates bylaw and related documents, including tax notices to residents.
Expenses incurred under the 2020 interim operating budget will match the 2019 approved expenditures levels until the final 2020 operating budget is adopted.
