It may not be on the same level as the hike Saskatoon residents saw, but a big property tax increase is likely on its way for North Battleford ratepayers.
City Manager Jim Toye tabled the 2014 draft budget for the first time at Monday's council meeting, and it calls for a property tax increase of 5.99 per cent.
Also slated to go up are water utility rates (four per cent) and sewer utility rates (two per cent).
It's not as much as the 7.43 per cent hike Saskatoon residents will be seeing, but it is still likely to be a tough pill to swallow for taxpayers in North Battleford as the City indicated the costs of providing its services continues to go up.
It is expected the 2014 draft budget document will be up at the City's website (www.cityofnb.ca) this week, containing full details of the operations budget, the utilities budget and five-year capital plan.
Dates for budget deliberations are not yet officially scheduled. Mayor Ian Hamilton indicated the City would be checking on possible suitable dates this week. Those dates will be advertised as soon as they are scheduled.
It should be noted the proposed tax increases are just that at this stage, and they could still be changed upward or downward depending on feedback from councillors during deliberations.
It appears infrastructure concerns are driving the increase for this year. According to the budget document, City administration is advising investment of capital funds to "maintain the quality of current infrastructure, as well as supporting renewal and growth to meet North Battleford's anticipated needs." Proposed projects include 114th Street storm and sanitary sewer and urban roadway, prime water main rehab and servicing Parson's Park property.
According to the budget preamble prepared by Toye, there are no service reductions in the proposed budget, and debt levels remain below the $45 million limit.
Toye also stated that a "strong emphasis on economic development remains at the forefront in moving to greater diversification of the City's tax base." In 2014 the City plans to continue "our focused and intensive efforts to attract businesses and to retain and support the vitality of the existing business community."
Notable about the 2014 budget was that it was prepared by an understaffed city administration.
It fell on Toye, who is leaving at the end of December, to deliver the budget as the City is still without a finance director. That position has been vacant for a few months after the departure of Matthew Hartney and interviews have continued during the past month to fill the position.
It was also learned Monday there is a vacancy in the position of director of parks and recreation as Keith Anderson announced his retirement in a letter.
In speaking to reporters, Toye indicated costs were going up across the board.
"The actual operating budget is thirty-two million dollars, the capital budget is eighteen million dollars," said Toye.
In utilities, Toye said increases are being seen in that area "much like everyone." There are also increases in wages across the board, there is an increase of five per cent in the police salary budget, and 2.5 to three per cent in fire, said Toye.
"Right across the board our cost of doing business is more," the city manager said. He also said revenue sharing is going down three per cent, as tied to the provincial PST.
"All those really add up. If we're going to provide the same level of service, we need to go to our taxpayers for a bit more money," said Toye.
Toye said he looks forward to the dialogue and said council could add or subtract a few things. But "we feel what we put in front of them is very fair," said Toye.
As expected, one of the hot topics during the budget deliberations will be the proposed changes to waste management, with proposed moves to rollout carts for garbage and to mandatory recycling.
Council will need to decide whether to go with bi-weekly collection, which would come at a rate of $10 per month ($9 for garbage collection, $1 for carts), or weekly, which would come at a rate of $12.85 ($11.85 for garbage collection, $1 per cart), based on numbers in the 2014 draft budget.
Another option could be a combination of both, as was suggested by Councillor Greg Lightfoot at a previous council meeting. He suggested a combination of biweekly collection during the fall and winter and weekly during the summer months.
Two options have been put forward with respect to recycling collection and processing. The first option is Ever Green's bid for residential blue bag collection at a cost of $6 per month. The other option is to go with Loraas, whose collection cost is $6.50 per month.
Both proposals are seen to have differing advantages. Ever Green's proposal would take up less space at the front curb/residential garage and there would be less chance of contamination. The Loraas proposal would have that company responsible for any contamination if it occurs and is considered the traditional way of recycling.
It is expected council will make a decision to go with one of those two options during budget deliberations.
Also expected to be a major topic of discussion is the long-term future of the Agriplex, which was closed for safety concerns for the 2013-14 hockey season. At least $380,000 in improvements is required to get the hockey arena operational again.
The City and the Battlefords Agricultural Society jointly operate the facility.
At the moment, it appears administration is recommending permanently closing the ice plant and allowing the Ag Society to take the facility over. Administration has recommended in the 2014 budget to cease to operate the building as an arena and work with the Battlefords Ag Society to transition the building to their sole care by the end of 2014.
Whether city councillors will go along with that is another issue, as they have voiced concern in the past about a potential loss of ice time.
Also expected to be a topic of discussion is policing services, with talk at council in the past few months of possibly bolstering the resources in that area in the wake of some high-profile crime incidents and continued high numbers on the national crime severity index.
It was noted in the 2014 budget that in the past three years RCMP costs have been rising by approximately five per cent a year. This was described in the budget as "an essential service cost increase that has a direct tax impact."
It was also noted in the budget that the province of Saskatchewan provides an annual grant for seven RCMP positions through the Enhanced Policing Policy Initiative up to a maximum of $735,000.
Monday, the province announced in a news release that North Battleford is once again receiving that amount for 2013-14 to go towards directed police initiatives.
