Much uncertainty remained about the 2017 operations and capital budget that is headed to council next Monday.
Budget deliberations wrapped up Wednesday with a number of issues still outstanding and up in the air, particularly with respect to some big-ticket major projects.
Most of the budget's proposed increases remained intact following the final budget session, though even those numbers could still change. The proposed three per cent property tax increase is still on, so is the three per cent increase in base water and sewer and three per cent hike in consumption rates. Waste management fees and UPAR are also going up.
But two major issues remained unresolved as the budget headed to council Monday, and both were big ones.
One was whether the City would proceed with raising the debt limit, in order to fund a small but significant number of major capital projects.
Three of the major projects that would need a debt limit increase to proceed would be City Hall renovations ($3 million), a new force main for the sewer system ($18 million), and both downtown redevelopment phase 1 ($520,000) and phase 2 ($1,600,000). Another major project would be Civic Centre replacement, but that is well into the future.
No immediate decisions were made Wednesday on whether council will proceed with raising the debt limit, or whether they will even move ahead with these projects in 2017.
If they did go ahead, Director of Finance David Gillan indicated that could impact the numbers for the final property tax and utility increases, which were calculated based on those projects for which funding was identified.
Policing Costs
The second issue was described as the "elephant in the room" that could throw the entire budget out of whack ‑ the potential change of the City's cost-share for its contract with the RCMP.
Results of the national census are expected on Feb. 8, 2017 and Gillan noted that according to the contract between the City and the RCMP, if North Battleford's official population meets or exceeds 15,000, the City's cost-share will go up to 90 per cent as opposed to its current 70 per cent.
City officials estimated that would add an additional cost to the City of about $800,000 for the 2017 budget year, starting April 1. On an annual basis, the cost would be about $1 million.
Those numbers weren't included in the 2017 budget, but if the census numbers do hit 15,000, the budget hit would have to be addressed.
"There's a risk that this budget will need to be revisited in February," said Gillan.
At that point council would discuss the options available. Gillan stressed it did not necessarily mean an increase in taxation. There could be offsetting cost-savings found as well.
The City would also have to shoulder some additional capital costs and officials indicated the City has a small reserve set up to handle some of those costs of about $200,000. Gillan also noted more money could come in from the municipal operating grant, due to the increase in population.
While this looming budget hit was a concern, it might not happen.
City Manager Jim Puffalt said that their own best estimate was that North Battleford's population would come in under the threshold, at around 14,500.
"We don't think it's going to happen, but you never know," said Puffalt.
As it stood Wednesday, the next step for the budget process called for a number of resolutions to go to council for approval Monday.
But given the issues that remained it was possible that all, part, or even none of the budget could be approved by council at that meeting.
Administration has been pushing for at least part of the budget to be passed before the end of the year, to allow them to get on with the tendering process for major projects. If more time is required after Monday’s meeting, the budget could still return for approval at a special meeting.
The final budget session Wednesday proved the most rigorous of all three budget sessions that took place at City Hall over the previous week, with the meeting lasting well over four hours and with several presentations made.
Debt Limit
The long-awaited discussion of the debt limit was raised early on by Mayor Ryan Bater. It is currently set at $45 million and would require an application to the province to proceed.
Puffalt made the point that these projects — City Hall, the downtown redevelopment, the force main — couldn't continue to be put off. With City Hall, he pointed to no elevators in the building and various accessibility issues, and a building showing its age.
“We have to do something,” said Puffalt, adding if they were going to raise the debt limit, it was better to do it one time because it was “not something the City should do lightly.”
One issue councillors had was that some of these projects, in particular downtown redevelopment, weren't even finalized. Bater noted the downtown master plan has yet to come to council and is yet to be approved.
"How can we reasonably approve money for something without really knowing what it is?" he said.
The idea of a debt limit increase gave councillors a lot to think about. Councillor Greg Lightfoot made it known that he understood why debt was an option.
"If we don't use debt, we have to significantly increase taxes," said Lightfoot.
“And no one wants to pay more tax, so if we manage the tax base by using the debt to our favour, I’m 100 per cent in agreement with that.”
Some councillors wanted time to seriously consider all the information. Councillor Len Taylor made clear he didn't want to rush ahead.
"This is not something we do in five minutes," said Taylor.
Councillor Kelli Hawtin was of the same mindset. "This requires a lot of attention. Not 10 minutes," she said.
Department Operations
After that extensive opening discussion, the deliberations moved on to the department presentations, starting with fire and protective services by Director of Protective Services/Fire Chief Albert Headrick, followed by the underground pipes and roads discussion.
In that discussion, City Engineer Bob Anthony called for continued expansion of the program for 2016.
The program had been introduced a couple of years ago to address the need to replace the City's aging underground pipes and asphalt in a timely manner. Bater noted dealing with this issue of aging pipes was a concern faced by cities across Saskatchewan and Canada.
Later on in the meeting, administration proposed the UPAR increase for 2017 and it includes an increase from $3.60 per foot frontage to $4.60. That would be combined with the UPAR component from the utility bill, with an increase of $70 per year.
Gillan said the increases were necessary for the program to “maintain momentum.” But as with the debt-limit proposal and those projects impacted, it was not immediately clear whether council will support the UPAR increases.
During the last two city budgets, council pared back administration's UPAR rate and frontage proposals both times.
Gillan then made the presentation for the general government budget, which includes $25,000 towards a new information technology payroll position and $63,000 for a human resources payroll co-ordinator position.
Third-Party Grants
There was also presentations by those seeking third-party grants from the city.
Of the delegations before council Wednesday, new transit manager Treena Rothwell made the request for North Battleford Transit System (including Handi-Bus) for $ 353,000; North Battleford Golf and Country Club president Chad Gartner asked for the annual capital grant of $50,000 to maintain the water and sewer utility infrastructure at the golf course; General Manager Moe McGuinty of the Dekker Centre for the Performing Arts requested an operating grant of $220,000; Dr. Shawn Haas representing the Animal Control/Humane Society requested an operating grant of $72,000; and Russ Brown representing Destination Battlefords sought $116,000 in funding.
For that last grant request, Bater declared a conflict of interest, and recused himself from that discussion.
With the budget deliberation portion of the discussion now over, the process now moves to council. Resolutions on various portions of the budget, including separate ones for operations and capital, were expected to come up at Monday's final scheduled council meeting of 2017. With many details still to be finalized with the 2017 budget, the discussion was expected to be extensive.
