The third night of 2015 city budget deliberations moved away from the heavier topics involving infrastructure costs, and shifted towards more quality of life issues in the city.
Items in leisure services dominated the evening, as did other items in operations and maintenance, policing and government services.
It proved to be a bit of a respite for councillors from the previous discussions about the need to replace aging infrastructure through a new capital levy. By contrast, the leisure services budget was fairly straightforward.
First up was Moe McGuinty, general manager of the Dekker Centre, who spoke on that portion of the budget. His request of council was to continue to maintain the annual grant of $220,000.
Leisure Services Director Bill Samborski then made the extensive presentation on budget items for Leisure Services.
Samborski presented a budget he said he believed was "reasonable" and which kept to within a three pre cent increase. He noted Leisure Services faced the challenge of dealing with "very high operating costs, utility costs in particular."
He noted the issue has reached the point where it’s “becoming very concerning with our admission thresholds” and pointed to issues faced down the highway in Saskatoon, which missed their revenue targets considerably.
Saskatoon officials had thought the drop off was due to people not wanting to commit, but a study was done and found something different. "It wasn't about commitments, it was price points," said Samborski. So their department is very cognizant about rates, he said.
The rebranding of their department as Leisure Services instead of Parks and Recreation was a particular highlight, with Samborski noting the plans for the name change came even before the customer service review was done.
He noted total revenue for Leisure Services was projected at $2.1 million, a $127,000 increase compared to the 2014 budget.
He spoke in general on the CUplex and said in 2015 they would work with the curling club on a new lease, which must be in place by Jan 1, 2016.
"We've got to come up with something and have something to work for," said Samborski.
As expected, the future of North Battleford Civic Centre came up and the focus was on critical items that need to start next year.
Replacing south canopy, adding access ladders to the roof, minor repairs to the concession roof, a sealant program for the building, air handling units, hot and cold water lines were the items identified.
The total cost of needed repairs over the next decade is projected as $1.3 million, but Samborski urged councillors not to get too hung up on the figures as not all that work may get done over that span.
The critical things will need to be done, but beyond those "we will have to pick and choose what we want to do," said Samborski, recognizing the building's limited life.
The other big capital item concerns addressing what appears to be ongoing HVAC issues that have dogged the Battlefords Co-op Aquatic Centre since it was built.
Work was completed there this year but Samborski said it will take -30 C temperatures to see whether the adjustments made in February and March made a difference.
"If they are not the solution we'll need to refocus on that," said Samborski.
He suggested a new thermal scan to measure what was happening with the HVAC. The suspicion is the wing wall could be responsible for the problems. That is where many of the issues are coming from "which can point towards a design flaw," Samborski said.
Don Ross arena is in good shape after the roof was fixed last year, but the ice plant is past its life expectancy. The ice plant has run well, he noted, but by pushing back that issue "you roll the dice," he said.
"Can you imagine if right before a tournament, the day before, the ice plant caves," said Samborski, who suggested that should be discussed.
That wrapped up the Leisure Services portion of the budget, which took well over an hour.
Discussion moved on to general government services with City Manager Jim Puffalt, Director of Finance David Gillan and City Assessor Gail Adams leading that discussion.
General government revenue had gone down compared to the 2014 budget by approximately $982,000 however this was directly attributed to the one time pocket housing grant the City received, according to Gillan.
On the expense side wages and benefits had increased approximately $269,000 due to creation of a central purchasing co-ordinator position at $57,000, with the balance from changes to existing staff cost allocation and a planned increase in 2015 of 3.25 per cent.
Also discussed was the Community Safety Co-ordinator position held by Herb Sutton. That initial program called for a six-month contract to the end of 2014. The 2015 budget contemplates extending that position through 2015, at a cost of $60,000.
Whether the city taxpayers will be on the hook for the whole amount remains to be seen. Puffalt said a request has been put in to the Province for some assistance for that position, and he added this was the “least they could do”.
There were no surprises with respect to the policing budget, with the 36-member RCMP policing contract expected to increase 4.2 per cent by $165,000. There is also a slight increase in assistance from the province towards the seven enhanced policing initiative officers in the amount of $780,000.
Operating revenue projected for 2015 is $1,223,404 and expenses $4,787,197 for a policing deficit of $3,563,793. There was also mention of what would happen if the city's population hit 15,000, and it was explained the city's share of the contract would go up from 70 to 90 per cent, adding approximately another million to the cost of the contract.
On the operations and maintenance side, Director Stewart Schafer ran down the numbers there. The budget projects a deficit in that area in 2015 at $4.9 million, up from approximately $4.6 million. Expenses in wages and benefits, and maintenance materials and supplies on the public works side are largely behind the increase.
Also, Puffalt confirmed some money in the operations and maintenance budget for a graffiti program.
The idea is to provide some relief to those residents who are victims of graffiti by providing some paint-removal and volunteer assistance. More details on the program are to be presented to council in January.
North Battleford council has now gone through the entire budget document for 2015. The plan now is to digest the numbers and come back for one final budget deliberation session Dec. 10 in order to get further information and tie up loose ends. The start time for that session is tentatively set for 5 p.m.
