The preliminary budget for North Battleford has been presented at City Hall, and it appears some increases could be on the way.
The 2013 budget, brought down by Finance Director Matthew Hartney at Monday's meeting of council, is proposing increases to property taxes as well as water and sewer rates.
The budget proposes a 4.99 per cent increase to property tax revenue, to offset increased operating expenses and to provide funding for capital reserves to purchase and replace capital assets in the next five years.
As well, a 4.9 per cent increase to the water utility revenue is being proposed, to repay debt for capital and fund the capital reserves for water utility capital projects. And a 6.9 per cent increase is being proposed to the sanitary sewer utility reserve to pay debt for capital, investment in new capital and repayment to the reserves.
Hartney noted to reporters the need to have a plan in place not only to operate the utilities, but also "putting money intentionally into reserves to rebuild."
He noted a plan needs to be in place to meet the costs of repairing infrastructure. "This is just step one," Hartney said.
What the budget impact is estimated for a 1,100 square-foot two-storey residence with a detached garage on the west side of the city is: a property tax increase of $62.68 and a utilities invoice of $7.93 per month for 20 cubic metres of water.
However, it should be noted that the proposed property tax increase would not apply evenly to everyone in the city. It will differ depending on location and whether a structure is residential or commercial.
Hartney confirms there will be discussions later this year on tax policy, which should happen after adoption of the budget takes place.
Moreover, the proposed 2013 increases are themselves not yet set in stone, as they now go under the microscope of councillors at deliberations scheduled for this week.
The first deliberations take place Wednesday from 6 to 10 p.m., with the second session Thursday from 6 to 10 p.m. If a third session is needed, that will take place Saturday at 9 am.
All deliberations are open to the public and Hartney is encouraging all those interested to attend. He anticipates some further changes to the budget could take place before the final document is approved.
As well, Hartney is encouraging people to read the budget document itself which is posted at the City of North Battleford website at www.cityofnb.ca.
This is Hartney's first budget as finance director after taking over the position from Byron Tumbach, who became chief administrative officer in Lumsden shortly after presenting last year's budget.
Hartney told reporters he believes the citizens of North Battleford are getting the best value for dollars for the services provided.
"Only a third of the revenue required to operate each year is coming through taxpayers," said Hartney. "That's phenomenal. We credit our current council, without question, to look at parts of the operation that could be cut down without impacting services drastically."
The finance director acknowledged some of the challenges in keeping the tax increases at a minimum.
"The big cost for city governments is people. People cost a lot, and especially in a growing economy in Saskatchewan right now where you have increased wages in all types of industries, all contractors charging more money. That is a big impact for the City to operate every year and also build things, build all the facilities that you are seeing."
There was talk as well on Monday night about the City looking to bring in revenue in other ways besides property tax, such as a user pay model.
