By Tyler Marr

Proposed 2018 budget suggests 2 per cent tax increase

Nov 1, 2017 | 5:00 PM

It is far from pretty and already pared thin, but Mayor Greg Dionne promises to keep tax increases below the proposed two per cent as 2018 budget talks get underway.

Administration has composed a preliminary operating budget of $70.292 million for 2018, released Tuesday, which includes a $2.447 million spending increase. A combination of a suggested two per cent property tax increase and new revenue streams are pegged to cover this.

“It is tight, but there is always room to move,” Mayor Greg Dionne said. “Not saying we are going to move much…we are working hard to keep it below two per cent.”

Dionne was pleased administration adhered to council’s requested increase, instead of a presenting a seven or eight per cent hike and forcing council to trim the edges. To do this though, administration proposed $857,000 in cuts.

All this leaves the city with a surplus, but after $5.45 million is directed to fund capital projects, $5.77 million to reserves and $314,000 for loan payments, the city would run a balanced budget.

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The budget will go through public consultation on Nov. 16, before the books are scrutinized and rejigged by city council during budget talks throughout the month.

“As always we need to stress that this is a proposed budget and is subject to change,” Steve Brown, director of financial services said in a release. “City Council will take into account public input and its own priorities when reviewing the budget. The final tax rate will be determined sometime following council deliberations in November.” 

Brown could not give an estimate as to what a two per cent tax increase could mean for individual homeowners because council has not yet finalised aspects such as who gets charged what for mill rate and base rate.

Most of the tax increase comes in part to the province slashing grant-in-lieu payments and revenue sharing to cities in their March 2017 budget. Cuts to grant-in-lieu alone left Prince Albert short $2.5 million in 2017.

Last year, after sorting out the ramifications handed down from the province, council approved their initial promised 1.5 per cent tax increase. It came about through $1.3 million in transfers from reserves and further belt-tightening in various departments. However, moving money to balance the books was marked as something not to be done each year.

This was in stark contrast to other cities in Saskatchewan, which hiked taxes to cover dried-up coffers. Because of this, Prince Albert moved significantly down the list for taxation amounts, dropping to eighth on a list of 16, according to a recent study out of Yorkton.

“We are right in the middle of the pack. I would like to be a little lower than that, but we will see,” Dionne added.

At earlier meetings, some councillors recommended a desire to see a zero per cent tax increase for 2018, but others indicated how no new money would mean the city is not making attempts to move forward, stay on top of upgrades and keep pace with inflation.

Adding to revenue streams this year is the city’s newly formed impound lot, expected to bring in around $500,000. Increases in user charges should add upwards of $69,000 to the accounts and revenues from parking ticket penalties is anticipated to haul in $173,000.

A number of capital projects in the preliminary budget include a $4.1 million road recapping program and a $300,000 sidewalk repair program.

Brown told paNOW the city was facing “significant challenges on the horizon” because while a reasonable amount of money was found to offset some of the provincial cuts in the spring, at the same time the city is looking at around $750,000 in operations cuts that still needs to be finalised through council. Brown said that would be offset with a $1 million withdrawal from their reserve fund to give the city another 12 months to flesh out further savings.

The proposed budget will only see one new position added and it won’t be on the city’s dime. The Prince Albert Police Service will increase their squad by one member through a new provincially funded position. The department is asking for a $543,130 increase over its 2017 ask. Transfers to external agencies will see minor hikes, though remain relatively equal to 2017 numbers.

General deliberations are scheduled for Nov. 17, 18 with sanitation, utility and land fund budget talks set for Nov. 21 and 23.

tyler.marr@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @JournoMarr