Jason Stockfish | [email protected]
On Nov. 29 the committee of the whole met for a third day of budget discussions to provide further direction to administration on a draft budget.听听
The committee had met twice earlier on Nov. 15 and Nov.16 when council listened to presentations from external community groups and was provided with a menu of options from administration as to how they could best use budgetary funds to tackle priorities first and foremost.
In order to determine the costs associated with the numerous items put forth by administration, council asked to see how the numbers would break down.聽
At their most recent meeting, after seeing the cumulative effects of those additions, council decided to cut back some of the budget increases associated with line items that may not best address priorities at the moment.
Specifically, council voted to eliminate the idea of creating a new planning & development management position for an annual salary of $151,000, deciding instead to allot $75,000 for contract funds to give administration the ability to hire additional support while the municipality continues talks with Parks Canada on the matter.聽
Council also decided to remove the creation of a position for a certified engineering technologist (CET) at an annual salary of $117,000. Instead, they directed administration to keep track of how much is spent on contractors in 2023 and report back on their engineering fees to see if the evidence shows that a new position is justified or not.
Additionally, council decided to add $25,000 to the budget to improve the audio equipment in the multipurpose hall as the facility is being used more often and requires an upgrade.
The amount of money the municipality should draw from reserves to alleviate the burden on taxpayers was another area that dominated a significant amount of the discussion at committee.
In 2021, $1 million in reserve funds were used as a COVID recovery to help shield the taxpayers from the financial burdens of the pandemic, whereas in 2022 that amount was cut in half to $500,000.
During their earlier talks, administration had suggested using $250,000 in 2023 for the same purpose of reducing tax increases.
Initially, council believed doubling the suggested withdrawal to $500,000 would be the best course of action. However, after further reflection they decided to lower the amount of the reserve that would be allotted next year to $400,000.
Paid parking was also a topic that came up for discussion in budget talks.聽
In 2022, the amount of revenue brought into government coffers through the paid parking program was around $500,000.
During earlier budget meetings, administration proposed that parking in 2023 could be expected to provide around $600,000 in revenue. Council believed that number was somewhat conservative and asked administration to instead calculate for $675,000.
At the same meeting council decided to use $250,000 from paid parking dollars to reduce the tax rate for local property owners next year.
All councillors have now had an opportunity to put motions forward and committee is sending the draft budget to council for approval at their Dec. 6 meeting.聽
On the table at the final budget discussion next week will be an increase to the net tax envelope of around $1 million dollars, which is the equivalent of around a $105 annual increase in municipal property taxes on the average $900,000 home.
