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City of Powell River council considers service cuts and layoffs

Staff look for up to $300,000 in budget shortfall

Budgets have been cut to the bone and now City of Powell River council is looking at reducing city services and laying off staff in order to balance the 2017 budget, said City of Powell River’s chief administrative officer Mac Fraser during recent budget deliberations.

The city’s finance committee gathered Thursday, February 23, to engage the next round of discussions as it pulls together this year’s budget.

The committee heard from staff on various capital projects the city could undertake in this year and where the funding for those would come from: grants, reserves or operations.

Councillor and finance committee chair Russell Brewer said if the committee wishes to keep the tax increase to 1.9 per cent any additional projects added to operations would have to come from a mix of service cuts and job reductions.

“You’re not going to get it all out of service-level reductions or all out of job cuts. It’s going to be a combination of both,” said Brewer after the meeting.

City staff will take the next few weeks to find between $250,000 and $300,000 in operations funding needed to meet the current budget shortfall as the city’s budget process develops. Staff will deliver recommendations on cuts for the next committee meeting Thursday, March 23.

Even before discussions began on capital projects, the city had a $103,000 shortfall. At its previous meeting, the committee had considered a 2.4 per cent increase in municipal taxes to cover core operating expenses, in addition to a 0.5 per cent hike in user fees for sewer, water and garbage collection.

However, the committee was unanimous in holding the tax hike to 1.9 per cent, the same level as the cost of living increase. That one per cent reduction in the overall tax hike creates the $103,000 shortfall in the budget, according to city chief financial officer Kathleen Day’s presentation.

Powell River resident Paul McMahon attended the meeting and pointed out that council had previously promised to hold off raising taxes for five years.

“So far we’ve made it for one year,” said McMahon during a public question period.

Fraser responded that council has been challenged to hold to its promise given the amount of “externally dictated cost increases” coming from added costs for protective-services contracts and other labour-related increases.

McMahon told council they needed to rein in the city’s spending, to which Brewer responded he would be happy to hear any suggestions McMahon could provide.

“You’re spending excessively in non-core areas. Do we have to have the recreation complex and library open seven days a week?” said McMahon. “I can’t get into my bank seven days a week.”

The city’s final budget will be approved on May 4.