City of Powell River’s 2012 proposed budget includes a number of service and staff reductions as well as a 3.8 per cent tax increase for residential and one per cent increase for business properties.
City council has been wrestling with an approximately $630,000 shortfall in the 2012 budget, which is part of the five-year financial plan. Instead of covering the deficit with a tax increase, council directed staff to find the savings in the city’s operational budget.
Eventually, Mayor Dave Formosa said, staff came up with a plan that gave council a zero tax increase. “Things are not going to be exactly the way we like to see them, and I’ll be the first to admit that,” he said.
However, the $630,000 that has been taken out of the budget is bearable and prudent, Formosa added. “The reductions are the best for the organization, to keep the organization strong,” he said. “It keeps those jobs more solid, because we can’t keep going up and up and up. The public won’t allow it.”
Formosa said he’s proud that they reached zero. “I feel sorry for the hits that we’re going to take, I really do,” he said. “But I think it’s the right thing.”
Residents will notice some reductions in services. Transit will be reduced by 930 hours and adults will pay 25 cents more, raising the fare to $2.
Garbage and recycling operations will be reduced by 832 hours, which is expected to translate into service four days a week.
In the parks, recreation and culture department, the concession at Powell River Recreation Complex will close at the end of the 2011-2012 hockey season. The department will provide online registration and once that is implemented, the recreation complex receptionist staffing will be reduced.
A number of staffing reductions are also part of the plan. The full-time bylaw enforcement officer position, which has become vacant due to a retirement, will not be filled. Two part-time positions will provide 50 hours a week coverage.
The public works coordinator position will be eliminated, also through attrition.
Only one additional part-time staff position in the parks department will be hired in the summer, instead of the usual two.
The receptionist position at city hall is being eliminated. The accounting clerk cashier and the financial services secretary positions are being combined into one full-time position. The request for funding for a records management project staff position is denied.
Engineering technologist staffing levels are being maintained up to December 31, 2012. They are being funded through the 2012 capital budget and the engineering operations budget, although the engineering wages and salaries budget is being reduced by $25,000. There is a $1.3 million backlog in capital projects and a staff report on their progress will be made at the first committee-of-the-whole meeting in November.
Other reductions include: maintenance at the Cranberry Training Centre; standby during weekdays is reduced to one person; city hall will be closed from December 21, 2012 to January 2, 2013. As well, the occupational health and safety officer’s office is being relocated and the safety office building will be closed. As well, washrooms at Powell Lake will be closed.
There are a number of general operating reductions:
• Administration/bylaw enforcement: staff training and travel budget, $16,000 and vacation relief, $18,000.
• Development services: staff training and development budget, $470 and membership budget, $1,260.
• Engineering services staff training and development budget, $2,500.
• Finance staff training and development budget, $2,500.
• Fire and emergency services: staff training and development, $20,000; clothing, $1,500; equipment and repair, $1,000.
• Human resources staff training and development, $2,000.
• Operations services: staff training and development, $2,000 and vacation relief, $10,000.
• Parks, recreation and culture: vacation relief, $5,000 and operating, $5,000.
• RCMP: staff vacation relief, $5,000 and staff training and development, $2,000.
Councillor Chris McNaughton, who holds the finance portfolio, said, “Council gave thoughtful consideration to the impact these decisions will have on individuals, service levels and the organization,” he said. "It was very hard.”
The direction council gave to staff was, “We’re not raising taxes to cover an increase in operating,” McNaughton said. “We need to find the savings within the operating budget. Council has agreed that the tax increase will be applied to reserves for sustainable infrastructure.”
Formosa pointed out that when the city started shifting taxes from major industry, residents and businesses shouldered increases. But at the same time, the city found ways of decreasing and making reductions, even though those measures were not always visible to the public. For instance, staff reductions were made through attrition. “If you continue to cut, one day you’re going to get to the place that it’s going to start to hurt,” he said. “That’s the tough part and that’s where we’re at.”
Last year during budget deliberations, council held the line on a proposed tax increase and instructed staff to bring in a budget that had a 3.8 per cent tax increase for residents and one per cent for businesses. That decision put pressure on this year’s budget, in addition to new expenses, which included payments on loans for capital projects and the new CUPE (Canadian Union of Public Employees) Local 798 collective agreement, Formosa said.
As for the tax increase, Formosa said it would not be responsible to not have revenue to address the infrastructure challenges facing the city. “For the last seven, eight years, we have not been taking care of other things while we were finding our way,” he said.
Council decided to have a tax increase that was the same as last year. “Those monies are all going into reserves for our asset management plan and for coming up with a long-term plan on what it is we need to do to put back into our assets,” he said. “I know we have issues with storm water going into people’s basements. I know we have old infrastructure. If we don’t deal with it, our children’s children are going to inherit a disintegrated asset.”
While more cuts may be coming in the wake of the Helios report, a review of the city's services and organization, the other part of the equation is generating own-source revenue, Formosa added, and council is working on some projects to that end.
McNaughton also said the 2012 budget decisions were not pre-empting the work of the Helios report implementation committee. “The timing of the report’s release and the forming of the committee didn’t mesh with the budget cycle,” he said. “Council had a responsibility to complete its budget work in time for the statutory deadline in the middle of May.”
Other initiatives outlined in the Helios report are moving forward, McNaughton added, such as strategic and corporate planning, a 20-year capital plan, which is now called asset management, and a 20-year financial plan. “Council has taken seriously its commitment to live within our means,” he said. “We’ve worked really hard to maintain levels of services and staffing through some very difficult times. This council is committed to working towards building a stronger economy and that will result in increased job opportunities.”
The Peak was not able to reach a CUPE representative for comment.
As well as the tax increase, water fees are increasing by 10 per cent and sewer fees by five per cent.
Before adopting the five-year financial plan, council must provide an opportunity for public consultation. The date for the public consultation meeting has not been set yet.
To read the city's press release on the 2012 budget, click here.
