City residents can once again expect to see increases in their property taxes and water and sewer rates.
The 2017 draft budget was presented at North Battleford city hall Wednesday night, which included administration's proposed tax increases.
Those include a proposed three per cent increase in property tax revenue, an increase in waste management and tipping fees for the first time since 2013, as well as the removal of the resident commercial discount where the source of waste cannot be identified.
For utilities, a three per cent increase in base water and sewer rates as well as consumption rates is being proposed.
The UPAR program is also coming back in 2017 and an increase is being proposed for that program as well.
The program addresses aging underground pipes and roads. In 2016 the city replaced 1.9 kilometres of the 2.9 kilometres estimated to be required each year to get ahead of the annual need to replace underground pipes and road asphalt.
The operating budget calls for the continuation of programs and services by the City. No reductions are coming to service delivery and City Manager Jim Puffalt indicated a major announcement is coming with respect to their community safety strategy in the near future.
The five-year capital plan is also being deliberated with a number of projects proposed for 2017 alone, with major work impacting the downtown, the southeast quadrant and the airport.
However, it should be stressed these are proposals from administration at this stage and there could still be changes by the time the budget comes back to council for ratification. The expectation is that the proposed tax and utility rate increases, as well as the UPAR numbers, will be discussed in detail during the second week of the deliberations and some changes could still happen.
Wednesday marked the first night of budget deliberations for the newly-elected city council since the October election. New North Battleford mayor Ryan Bater and members of council were all in attendance with the exception of councillors Greg Lightfoot and Kelli Hawtin. Hawtin listened in to the meeting by phone after giving birth to a baby girl two days earlier.
Members of city administration, including Director of Finance David Gillan, were also on hand as were members of the public in the gallery, including three representatives of the Battlefords Chamber of Commerce.
The first deliberation session concentrated on two civic departments: Leisure Services, and Planning and Development.
Director of Leisure Services Bill Samborski led council through the Leisure Services budget, which saw no major surprises. For 2017, Samborski said there would be no reduction in service and no increase in public access fees.
Expenditures for the department were are up one per cent, but Samborski noted revenues are up three per cent and he found that significant.
"We've turned the corner," he said.
One topic of considerable discussion was staffing. Leisure Services proposes to add a new scheduler position, budgeted at $53,000. The role involves keeping track of the scheduling of all the staff working at all the facilities, freeing up their managers to concentrate on their own roles.
The main driver behind the addition is to ensure enough staff are available at all facilities, particularly in situations where staff are out sick. Samborski cited increased pressure on the department to have enough staff on hand to be able to keep facilities open and running during scheduled hours.
The city manager concurred. "We cannot not open the doors," said Puffalt.
On the capital side, the most pressing item is a $400,000 fire panel upgrade to Don Ross Centre. That is a priority for 2017 and will be debt financed.
Another item is the Don Ross Arena boards and the capital work there would be done with an eye towards the 2018 Saskatchewan Winter Games. However, the need to address the boards has been identified for some time and Samborski stressed the importance of dealing with the issue.
"If we start not doing this stuff, we'll be closing another arena down," Samborski said, referring to the closure of the Agriplex rink over safety concerns with their boards.
The Civic Centre is due for capital improvements and the five-year capital plan includes emergency exit repairs, metal cladding on the north wall, boiler repairs, a lighting refit and enhanced security gates and cameras for the building.
Samborski indicated this would likely be the last major capital work for that facility, which is due to be replaced within the next 10 to 15 years.
Finally, a bike park is being planned for North Battleford in 2017 and it is to be similar to the one in Moose Jaw. It will be available to all bikes, not just BMX bikes, and is expected to provide more recreational opportunities for youth in the city, in addition to the current skate park.
"This will be a huge asset to the community," said Samborski. The design fee is listed at $13,000 and $170,000 is slated for its operation.
The second area of discussion was planning and development, and Jennifer Niesink, director of that department, went through the numbers and projects in that area.
The discussion included projected UPAR spending, which is estimated at $3.3 million for 2017. Total operating revenue was estimated at $2,147,350, which runs ahead of expenditures by a budgeted $558,470.
With respect to capital projects, the biggest line item was $2.5 million for the Killdeer Park subdivision land development, to be funded by working capital.
Another big item is $400,000 allocated to signal lights at Carlton Trail and $510,000 towards the extensive roadwork and concrete for that street.
As well, $520,000 has been allocated for downtown redevelopment Phase 1, with $480,000 allocated to a road and walk on 100th Street and 101st Street, which is a carryover from the 2016 budget.
The 100th Street (20th Avenue to the mall access) local improvement is estimated at $887,000. The north entry feature construction for signage and corridors coming into the city from Highway 4 north is estimated at $600,000 with $480,000 coming from external funding and $120,000 from capital reserves. The east entry feature construction from Saskatoon, consisting of signage, infrastructure and landscaping, is estimated at $387,500. Administration is looking to complete both in 2017.
A major item for 2017 will be airport runway rehabilitation. It was originally going to be a $550,000 project funded 50/50 between the City and the Province, but the City is now budgeting another $275,000 in order to accelerate the work for this coming year, so the City's portion will be $550,000 plus the province's $275,000.
The plan is to complete the centre portion of the runway first (where the planes land) and then do the outer portions in future years. The rehabilitation is considered urgent, with Director of Operations Stewart Schafer noting the runway pavement is already past its lifetime.
A budgeted $200,000 has been allocated towards addressing the storm drainage issues in Fairview. There is also a $65,000 allocation towards formalized downtown parking lots, with the idea to encourage people to park in those lots instead of on the empty lots the city is offering for sale. More about that proposal is due to come back to council in January.
The full draft 2017 budget is available online at the City of North Battleford website at www.cityofnb.ca. Also online are the five-year draft capital budgets for each department with a complete rundown of proposed capital projects, costs and potential funding sources.
Deliberation sessions were scheduled to resume again Monday, Dec. 5 and Wednesday, Dec. 7 beginning at 5 p.m. each night. It is during these sessions that the major discussions are to occur on property taxation and utility rates.
Among the items expected to be discussed Monday, according to city officials, are the City's debt limit and whether it will need to be raised to accommodate all the capital projects the City is seeking to get done for 2017. Currently, their debt limit is set at $45 million.
