After holding an additional budget session Wednesday, deliberations are finally over in North Battleford and the 2017 budget will return to council in January.
The indication from council Wednesday was they now had enough information to proceed to decisions on the 2017 budget when it returns in the new year. Administration will provide some additional information at that time as well, and incorporate some suggested changes.
The session Wednesday was mainly informational, but council did give some direction to administration on where they wanted to proceed on a number of items, including on administration's proposed tax and fee increases for 2017.
On utility rates, a consensus had not yet emerged on whether to stick with administration's proposed three per cent increase on base utility and also on consumption rates (amounting to an average $20 increase per household ), or to go even higher.
Councillor Greg Lightfoot was one of those expressing support for going higher, to four or even five per cent.
"Personally I think three per cent is low," said Lightfoot, pointing to major cities that were charging nine to 10 per cent and not keeping up.
He repeated the same point later on in the meeting, expresing the need to keep up with significant increases in water and sewer costs simply for maintenance of the system.
"If we are not keeping up with maintenance of our system, of one of our most essential systems in the city, water and sewer, if were not keeping up with that then we have to make a change."
Other councillors spoke about the impact on taxpayers if utility rates went any higher than what was being proposed, with both Len Taylor and Don Buglas expressing concerns about that issue.
Taylor pointed to other increases also in the budget, including for UPAR and waste management fees.
"I'm very uncomfortable with all of a sudden shocking our utility bill folks," said Taylor.
On waste management, council quickly reached a consensus to go with the proposed fee increase of $12 per year for garbage pickup and $7.20 per year for the recycling pickup. There was also consensus to go with the increase in public tipping fees from $114 to $125 per tonne, an increase of 9.6 per cent, as well as to eliminate the commercial discount for smaller contractors.
Council had decided at their Dec. 12 council meeting to increase the underground pipes and roads (UPAR) revenue to $3.3 million, and to increase the foot frontage from $3.60 to $4.36 with a 23 per cent increase on utilities, for a total estimated increase of $91 a year to the average household.
The 2017 budget process has proven to be a long and arduous process for council and administration.
Council previously held three nights of budget deliberations and presentations, and the decision was made to add a fourth deliberation session when council met to discuss the 2017 budget at their regular council meeting Monday.
The discussion Wednesday night wide-ranging, with councillors revisiting the capital and operations budgets for utilities, waste management, operations, planning and development (including the downtown redevelopment project and airport runways), and leisure services (including the proposed bike park, Don Ross Centre and the Civic Centre).
Downtown Redevelopment
One item that prompted considerable discussion was the downtown redevelopment.
Director of Business Development Jennifer Niesink provided some aerial maps of downtown that showed in greater detail what was planned. The work would cover 12th Avenue from 100th Street to 101st Street, and 101st Street from 11th Avenue to 12th Avenue.
Niesink explained that Phase 1, costing $520,000, would go towards non-UPAR related expenses such as reconstructing the sidewalks, incorporating streetscape amenities such as lights and other items. There is also another $480,000 carryover from last year's budget, as well as UPAR-funded work as well.
Later in the meeting, Mayor Ryan Bater repeated a concern he had expressed at an earlier deliberation session about making decisions on the downtown redevelopment before the downtown master plan was officially adopted.
But the new councillors indicated they had no qualms about setting money aside in the budget in advance of seeing the plans come to council.
"I'm not unhappy with having some money in the budget that is earmarked," said Taylor. Lindgren, Kevin Steinborn and Kelli Hawtin were also OK with moving forward with it.
"It's necessary work regardless of what the plan says," said Hawtin, who cited Niesink's presentation as particularly helpful.
Airport Improvements
There was also extensive discussion of the airport runway project.
There was a proposal from administration for the City to spend $550,000 on runways but there was only $275,000 in provincial matching funding available through the Community Airport Partnership program.
Some discussion ensued on whether the entire $550,000 was required in 2017 or whether some of the work could be delayed. Airport manager Fran de Kock stressed the importance of getting the runway done.
"The asphalt is deteriorating so bad that it's like a fine sand," said de Kock. After de Kock stressed the importance of getting the work done, council made clear they were comfortable with going ahead with that project.
Other topics that came up included sewage plant decommissioning, the bike park, the need for a new scheduler position, which had been discussed earlier as well, and urban forest issues.
The next step is for the budget to be presented again in January, likely at the first regular meeting of the year, at which time resolutions are expected to come to council for approval.
Finance will also update the budget document in time for the next meeting, to incorporate the changes discussed.
