The public received its first look at the 2018 City of Yorkton budgets when both the operating and capital sides of the document were unveiled at the regular meeting of Council Jan. 29.
The budget numbers discussed in January called for a taxation revenue increase of 4.55 per cent. The number included 2.77 per cent for future capital projects and a 1.78 per cent increase for operational expenditures.
The increase might have been viewed as modest if taken in isolation, but the 4.55 per cent increase was following a long term trend of ever higher municipal taxes in Yorkton.
At the Jan. 29, meeting Councillor Darcy Zaharia said he viewed the proposed increase as reasonable, noting that if you discount 2017 because of the provincial offload, the increase in the past seven years has “averaged just over four per cent.” He suggested when inflation, increases in provincial sales tax, gas costs and other factors are considered the four per cent is reasonable.
Of course taxpayers may not so easily dismiss the 2017 increase of near 10 per cent, even if the increase was squarely on the doorstep of the provincial government and its offloading a portion of its deficit to municipalities. Seven years of four per cent increases, plus the big number in 2017 still adds up to 38 per cent in eight years, without factoring in the increase on the increase year-after-year, which would push it to 40 per cent, or more.
But Council was at least savvy enough to table the budgets at the January meeting affording time for sober second thought, and for the public to have a say.
The ‘buzz’ on the streets of Yorkton in the days following the Jan. 29, meeting were about one might expect, a public which was not overly impressed by the prospect of again cutting a bigger cheque for local taxes.
Social media posts and coffee shop talk was active with complaints about the usual bugaboos, too much management, and staff which could do more with less.
But Council wanted some official feedback, the kind that would be part of the civic record, something they could work with.
There are always ways for the public to have their questions to Council, and their viewpoints part of the official record.
The public can request to make a presentation before Council.
In the case of the budget debate there was even an online option to provide feedback.
And of course the public is always encouraged to foster worthwhile debate through letters to the editor in this publication.
The budget sat on the table for three weeks, certainly time for the public to formulate questions and offer up formal discussions, but when the documents were again discussed at a formal Council meeting Feb. 20, the outpouring of concern over an eighth year of tax increases was less than a whisper.
There had been no letters to this newspaper.
There were no people attending Council to make a formal presentation.
The online responses did not hit a dozen, a startling small number among several thousand taxpayers.
The lack of formal response left Council frankly a tad confused. It was clear from comments they had wanted greater feedback, and when it did not come it left a strange air over the meeting.
It is unlikely any member of Council believes constant increases in municipal taxes year-after-year are palatable to the public, but without feedback they have little to suggest there is not a widespread acceptance that the financial need is reasonable as we move forward as a city.
