When it came to the decision to raise the mill rate by seven per cent in the budget being proposed to city council, City Manager Smale said the difference between the raise and status quo is capital spending or no capital spending.
“I don’t think in this time of growth that council can say ‘no, we can’t fix things,’ and I don’t think that’s what the public wants to hear,” said the City manager.
She said the 2015 proposal explores what the City can get off their plate this year so they can begin delivering a “proper” program in the coming years. Status quo, said Smale, has the opposite effect of what the City is trying to achieve.
“For me, this is the turning point. If this gets done, then we can start to move forward,” she added.
City treasurer Jeff Ward said the City is getting into better financial position but still needs to clean up some of the legislatively required projects.
“Then we can start going to where there are actually choices. You can’t do that when you have legislative stuff. You’re a little bit handcuffed,” Ward said, noting the Provincial Disaster Assistance Program funding to repair the Estevan Municipal Airport expires in 2015, and the City must spend $5 million on repairs, in order to receive $3 million back from PDAP. The City can’t afford to say no to $3 million.
“After this year we are turning that corner to make more progressive steps. You’ll see that in the capital plan. It’s not just big capital projects, it’s programs,” added Ward.
In future years, that will include manhole rehabilitation and residential road renewal.
Establishing the 2015 budget was largely about legal and legislative compliance.
“There are some things that we’re not currently legislatively compliant on, the landfill being one of them,” said Smale, who noted there was an environmental protection order placed on the Estevan landfill by the Ministry of Environment.
“It’s tied back to the operating permit, and that requires us to complete the things that are outstanding on that permit,” said Smale.
The landfill requires a fence around the perimeter and the City has to introduce groundwater testing as well as piezometers that are in place at the landfill. The fence and groundwater sampling program will cost about $450,000, a requirement of the Ministry of Environment.
Aging infrastructure continues to be a focus for the City in 2015, and that includes more than simply replacement. The City is continuing to canvass what the status of infrastructure is.
“We still don’t have a true picture of really what the condition of our underground assets are, which is a project that will take a long time, but it’s something that’s underway,” said Smale.
The City is expecting to complete a program to install new water meters this year. Ongoing for the past five years, there are about 600 more residences that need to be equipped with the automated metering system.
“We’re hoping to complete that, and once we do, that will give us the ability to go to monthly billing as opposed to bi-monthly and treat it as a normal utility like power or energy,” said Smale.
The system is expected to increase efficiency, as Ward noted the system can read 400 meters at once and can identify leaks. He said if there are complaints with customers about water bills being too high, looking at the data can identify where a leak is causing the additional water consumption and a plan to repair may begin.
The system can monitor data logs every 90 seconds, so a constant use of water at 4 a.m. may be the tip off that there’s a problem.
The budget proposal also includes how the City will fund the Estevan Public Library in the future.
Smale noted there are three bylaws already in force regarding how to fund the library and as a matter of housekeeping the budget includes a new library levy. Starting in 1965, Estevan entered into an agreement to fund the Southeast Regional Library, the South Eastern Saskatchewan Regional Library at the time.
“When it was originally established, it was established as a tax, but it was never applied,” said Smale.
It was re-established in 1992 and 1997 and still never applied as an actual levy. Estevan has been funding the regional library through a per capita grant, rather than recovering the costs through a levy.
“There are three active bylaws that establish this special tax or special levy, so we’re going to implement that in 2015 to fund the library system,” said Smale.
Ward noted the Southeast Regional Library sets the levy per population.
“They can dictate that, so this way you’re not just transferring it over to the levy. You don’t have to fit it into your community grants funding model. The public will understand exactly what that money is going to,” he said.
The 2015 budget plans to establish a special library tax levy, which will raise funds to go specifically toward the regional and local library operations. The levy will be set at 3.18 per cent and increase revenue to the City by $390,000.
