Operations, waste management and utilities were the focus of the second night of budget deliberations Monday at City Hall in North Battleford.
The night saw administration officials go into detail, not only on capital projects but also the proposed increases that local residents will have to foot the bill for — water and sewer, garbage and recycling.
It was a routine evening with no changes to the draft budget currently before council. The indication after the meeting was that deliberations were still on track to wrap up Wednesday night, when the underground pipes and roads levy is to come up for discussion.
The main story for taxpayers Monday is the proposed increase in waste and disposal fees.
Director of Operations Stewart Schafer went through the waste management budget for 2017, which calls for $2.185 million in waste and disposal fee revenue. To meet that revenue target, public tipping fees are going up from $114 to $125 per tonne, an increase of 9.6 per cent with a projected increase in annual revenue of $141,000.
This would be the first increase since 2013, and also the first hike since the City took over the waste management facility.
The City is also eliminating the commercial discount for smaller contractors (excluding waste haulers). The problem is much of the waste coming in, such as roofing or construction materials is not being produced locally, and Schafer said the City is having a hard time determining where the waste is coming from.
"It's being abused," said Schafer of the discount.
So with the exception of the larger contractors, who have been compliant, the City will be eliminating the commercial discount. The intention is for residential waste to still count towards the discount, however.
Other fee increases are also coming. The Curbside Garbage Collection Fee is going up from $9 per month per homeowner per bin to $10, for a value of about $60,000 per annum. The Curbside Recycling Collection Fee is also going up from $6 per month per homeowner to $6.60 per month, for a value of about $36,000 per annum.
This would be the first increase since the new garbage and recycling pickup regime came into effect.
Increases are also coming for both the water utility and sewer utility rates, but those numbers were already known prior to Monday.
A three per cent increase was proposed by administration for the base water and sewer rates, as well as for consumption rates. Councillor Kelli Hawtin asked about the rationale for the three per cent increase for both rates and consumption and Director of Finance David Gillan explained some of that in detail.
“I think the City has always had a consumption aspect for people who want to manage it as best they can,” said Gillan. However, the City “needs a certain amount of assurance and a certain amount of revenue,” which is what the base rates are for.
The water utility was the area that saw considerable issues in 2016 due to the oil spill into the North Saskatchewan River. The oil spill-related costs are covered by Husky. Of note was the amount of $3,561,110 listed for "water services expense recovery" for 2016 in the budget document.
The water and sewer utility is also seeing a considerable number of big-ticket items earmarked in the five-year capital budget. The biggest line item for 2017 is water tower repairs estimated at $300,000.
The state of the water tower has been a concern for a while. A study was done last year and the repairs are due for this year. Schafer noted the City sent divers into the water tower last year to check on its condition, something that resulted in a precautionary drinking water advisory being issued.
The findings were not good news.
"The legs of the water tower are corroding on us," said Schafer.
The bowl itself is not in bad shape, he also indicated. But the legs are a priority, and the plan is to address that and other issues at the tower in 2017 so that it can keep running for many more years. The $300,000 is going towards that.
There were also a number of proposed utility capital items listed that would require a debt limit increase in order to be funded.
The biggest of those items would be a new force main. A force main is a pressurized main pipe that can carry water, sewage, and other materials.
The cost for that 2018 project is currently estimated at $18 million, though City Manager Jim Puffalt said the engineers were looking at some alternatives that could bring the cost down. This project could also potentially be a candidate for some federal infrastructure funding.
With the costs so high for that project alone, a debt limit increase from the current $45 million would be required. The debt limit was expected to be a topic Monday, but a major discussion did not transpire, at least for now.
The need for a new force main was revealed in a recent study done of the sewer system. It is required, explained Puffalt, to address a developing situation near the Allen Sapp Gallery.
“There’s a bottleneck,” said Puffalt, “just around the Allen Sapp Gallery, and … it hasn’t caused, yet, but it could cause backups in the city. It’s important that, before we get to that stage, we start looking at basically twinning that line before it gets to the wastewater plant.”
Also discussed Monday was the budget for operations. Schafer led the presentation of that section.
The major priority is the rehabilitation work on main runway of the airport. It's a four-year project being funded by the City and the Community Airport Partnership grant program.
The first phase was completed in 2016 with the center of the west section of the runway milled and repaired, said Schafer. Next up for 2017 is finishing the milling and repaving of the east half of the center portion of the main runway.
They also plan new fuel pumps at the airport refueling station to replace the existing ones, and plan to contract for an airport manager.
The two biggest capital items for operations include a frontend loader budgeted at $230,000 and a tandem dump truck complete with box for $150,000. The new fuel pump for the airport is estimated at $95,000 and several other capital items are budgeted, with all 2017 projects for operations being funded from reserves.
Wednesday night was scheduled to be the final night of deliberations and Puffalt told reporters he expects “we will have a better idea by Wednesday” of what the complete budget will look like.
Officials indicated that Wednesday would be the night of UPAR (underground pipes and roads) discussion.
There are also a number of presentations by grant applicants that night, including for the Dekker Centre, the Humane Society, North Battleford Transit, the North Battleford Golf and Country Club, Destination Battlefords and others.
