Humboldt’s budget for 2015 hasn’t been released yet, but that doesn’t mean the City doesn’t already have some idea of what will be in it. City manager Roy Hardy gave a presentation during the City’s council meeting on Feb. 9 on the priorities and highlights that will be in the upcoming budget.
“Some of the projects in the budget are new and some are what council wanted to grow,” said Hardy. “The new projects are dealing specifically with the issues of growth generally in terms of being able to deal with that growth gap.”
Considering the recent talks, it shouldn’t come as any surprise that one of those key projects will be the development of the multipurpose fieldhouse. Of course, nothing concrete has been or will be decided any time soon, but the City is intending to start consultations as to what people want to see in the Centennial Park complex. According to Hardy, the intent is to go out this year and get some information such as a feasibility study and a preliminary design. Those will be the first steps before they can even begin to think about putting together things like a committee or start fundraising.
In terms of the design, the City is looking at a facility that would contain a theatre, but also maintain the potential for other uses such as a storage room, athletic centre, trade shows, and commercial purposes.
“We would probably be going out for an RFP (Request For Proposal) in the next little while and asking for consultants to bid on the feasibility and design,” said Hardy.
The other priorities at the top along with the fieldhouse focus on sustainability, which the City identified as being important to the community. As such, they’ve also pinpointed their main infrastructure projects for this year, which will be roads and utilities and the expansions of the reservoir and sewage plan to accommodate growth over time.
The City is also working to update its community development plan, which Hardy says is the “blueprint for growth.” They will be working with the RM of Humboldt to develop a plan for the land immediately surrounding the city. Doing so will enable them to predict which direction the population will continue to expand and plan infrastructure such as school, parks, streets, etc. accordingly.
One of the main challenges for this year’s budget, however, will be the outcome of the provincial government’s decision regarding revenue sharing. The program initially provided predictable funding for municipalities by endowing them with money equivalent to one per cent of the provincial sales tax (PST) revenues from two years prior. Now, however, the provincial government is saying that they might have to adjust that agreement in order to meet their budgetary needs.
“Normally, the payment that the province calculates is based on PST from two years ago so in effect, the province has known for a year and a half what those numbers are and should have known what they would be providing municipalities,” said Hardy. “But now with the changes in the resource sector, we’ve been told that everything is back on the table. We understand that the province has its issues, but we’re saying when you have these things, you need to involve us up front and allow us to prepare for these things.”
Essentially, municipalities will now have to play a guessing game with regards to what revenue they can expect because they prepare their budgets four to six months in advance of the provincial budget.
“While we’re seeing moderate growth, we’re not in a position to go back to the taxpayer and ask for more money,” said Hardy. “We would have to go back to our budget and identify those projects that were lower in terms of priority and if they haven’t already been started, look at delaying them for a year.”
Hardy says another problem with delaying projects for another year will be the increase in price. If they’ve already put out tenders and those respondents are waiting for projects to occur, the City will have to bear the cost of making them wait.
“Until we know what the province’s intents are, we’ll have to hold back projects and see if the revenue sharing dollars are there to support us,” said Hardy.
Aside from that anticipated challenge, the City has also been looking at its current list of services and evaluating which of them should be increased, maintained, or discontinued. So far, the most recently discontinued service to receive the most backlash is the backyard pickup program. There were more people at the council meeting to voice their discontent, but it doesn’t seem that situation will change any time soon. Council maintains that dollars for services are limited and some will have to be shifted in order to increase or maintain others.
Hardy said the City will also continue to focus on supporting downtown and welcoming new residents and families. Since Humboldt is a “hub,” it will have to rely on itself rather than look to Saskatoon for assistance.
In terms of revenue components, user fees have been increased on an average of about two per cent over 2015, though some are higher to “reflect a reduced level of municipal subsidy to users.” Basically, the City will be shifting some of the cost of the facilities or services more towards the residents.
Then there are the usual utility increases. As the City warned residents, water and sewer rates will increase by eight per cent. The road levy will increase anywhere from five to 55 dollars and the infrastructure levy will go up by $10.
During the council meeting, a resident brought up concerns regarding the multiple water levies, which Mayor Malcolm Eaton addressed:
“Water levies are our attempt at being transparent so you know exactly what your money is going towards,” he said.
According to Hardy, the priorities in this year’s budget are based on the Our Humboldt plan, which was conducted in order to discover what was important to residents.
The results were as follows:
• Sustainable – 33 per cent
• Active – 18 per cent
• Green – 16 per cent
• Prosperous and welcoming – 10 per cent
• Connected – eight per cent
• Creative – six per cent
Hardy says the two main projects this year – the reservoir and the sewage lift station – are in line with that sustainability priority. Simply put, a city can’t function without proper water infrastructure. The upcoming budget will outline all of this in greater detail.
“You try to look at some of the costs you can control and give a financial guideline as to what you should be doing,” said Hardy.
