The budget talks continue around the city council table. Humboldt City Council held a budget meeting after a regular council meeting on April 9. The main topic of the budget meeting was a proposed property tax increase. Currently, 30 per cent of tax revenue comes from commercial property and 70 per cent from residential. Steve Brown, director of finance, proposed a few different scenarios with different increases in mill rates and base tax.First off, Brown suggested two agriculture properties see a full base tax implementation in 2012, which council appeared to agree with. After that, talk turned to the base tax and mill rate for properties. The scenario that made the most sense to council was an $85 base tax increase and approximately a 4.5 per cent mill rate decrease. "All properties would either see a small increase or no increase (due to the base tax increase)," said Brown. "There are only a small handful that will see a small adjustment." Council agreed that this would be the best scenario, but Mayor Malcolm Eaton suggested an extra levy. "To throw a wrench in - what about that with a $50 base tax levy?" asked Eaton. He compared it to Kindersley, who uses their base tax for roads, not operations. Brown explained that everyone has a different interpretation of a base tax and that it might be easier to keep the $50 levy separate from the base tax, since Humboldt's base tax is used for operations. Eaton agreed that the levy should be separate from the base tax. The levy would only be for roads, explained Eaton. "At some point we are going to need an infrastructure fund," said Eaton. "If we do this, at least we have money to put into the game." He explained that when the provincial and federal governments have grants for infrastructure, the city will have to have money to put forward as well. "I don't want to raise taxes any more than anyone else, but we are going to have to start somewhere," said Eaton. The other councillors agreed, saying it was something they have no choice but to do in order to fund infrastructure repairs in the city. "In five years, when we need the funding, we will have it," said Brown. One concern Eaton had was the tax increase and levy would affect those with lower assessed properties than those with higher assessed properties. Brown explained they could create a scale to set the levy on, so the lower end would not have to pay as much. Another concern about the levy was educating the public."We have to educate people, " said Coun. Rob Muench. "They have to understand their block will not be paved next year." Council believes if the public knows the levy is to fix their roads, it may help take the sting out of the extra cost. "It is definitely something we have no choice but to do," said Coun. Leon Fleishhacker. Joe Doxey, director of planning and engineering, explained there are many areas that need to be fixed. "There are a number of areas that are past their lifespan, but we have to get ahead with water and sewer first," said Doxey. He said if the roads were fixed first, they would waste money because they would later have to be dug up to fix old water and sewer infrastructure. Council asked Brown to run some more numbers regarding the base tax, mill rate and levy. In order to put a new levy into place, council will go through the process of implementing a bylaw, complete with a public hearing.
