It may be taxing but the City of Powell River will be living up to its pledge to hold the line on revenue collections from residential property in 2015.
Mac Fraser, chief administrative officer, told the finance committee that the city has remained true to the commitment it took on through the existing five-year financial plan to not increase taxation for municipal operations. The committee held its first meeting on Thursday, December 11, to review a number of anticipated budget items for the coming year.
“You’ll see that revenues have gone up, expenditures have gone up somewhat, but not as much, and we’re holding the line in general,” Fraser said. “That, as you can imagine, in an organization with an all-up $20-million operating budget, is easily said and hard-put to make happen.”
Fraser said the most important item he could tell the finance committee is the city’s staff members have been working since last May to set the stage for increased revenues and minimized increases in costs. A great number of the city’s costs are external to the city and not based on the city’s locus of control, he said.
The city’s financial operational component is most frequently discussed in terms of service levels, according to Fraser.
He said regarding the fire department’s operation, there are no major changes, although it remains an objective to field three actual career firefighters on crews rather than just on paper. However, vacations, illness and training conspire to interrupt the city’s aspiration to have three professional firefighters on crew around the clock. Fraser said that 2015 is not the year, however, to financially achieve the goal.
“It is not as simple as saying we need more money for possibly as many as eight more career firefighters,” he said. “That’s a long-term objective and it’s not materialized in this operational expenditure in 2015.”
In providing a fiscal snapshot, Fraser said it was as important to tell the finance committee what the city is not doing as it is to outline what is being done.
In terms of the RCMP, there is no change to member status in 2015 but there will be a re-evaluation in 2016. Fraser said that when the city decides on increasing staffing, the RCMP sends fully equipped members. He said the city does not have to become involved in discussions such as whether the members have Kevlar vests or not.
Fraser said that Staff Sgt. Rod Wiebe, Powell River RCMP detachment commander, says the local detachment is two members short, with one transfer in expected imminently. The other position that needs to be filled is by a new sergeant. Since the departure of former Staff Sgt. Andy Brinton, Wiebe, the former sergeant, has been covering both positions.
In terms of infrastructure, there are no significant operational changes in service levels, according to Fraser. The city’s five-year financial plan calls for $600,000 of repaving to occur for each of the next five years.
“That’s a major shift in service level but it’s a capital decision so it’s not showing up in operational numbers,” Fraser said. “We do have a capital plan to get us back to where we should be for the next five years.”
Fraser said completion of a parks, recreation and culture master plan using in-house resources will be a major focus in 2015 with nearly no incremental cost. The city has done “wonderful things” with some of its resources, particularly with the green space at the waterfront.
A significant issue in the coming year will be the advancement of discussions with the regional district regarding regional recreation. Fraser said this does not only involve cost sharing of existing municipal services, but improving regional recreation services.
“We want to make things better but the city must find a way to find more revenue,” he said. “That’s the massive issue. The best way we could advance a conversation about shared revenue sourcing is to improve the service and to extend the service to the region.”
Fraser said there is a new requirement at Powell River Recreation Complex for patrons to wear wristbands. They are for that day and have different colours.
“In one week of implementation, approximately $1,800 of additional revenue was realized,” he said. “Before you ask, the wristbands cost slightly less than two cents each.”
