By Tyler Marr

PADBID sees funding deficit backfilled, levy increased

May 21, 2018 | 12:30 PM

The Prince Albert Downtown Business Improvement District (PADBID) has erased some red ink from the books, as city council approved two proposals to help balance funding shortfalls.

Council agreed to increase a levy on businesses in the downtown area used to funnel cash to the PADBID from four to 5.8 per cent and backfill a $5,482 funding shortfall from 2017. The money will come from fiscal stabilization.

The move comes after property reassessment last year led to a significant drop in taxes for many downtown property owners and cut deep into funding for the organization. This syphoned thousands of dollars from revenue streams as PADBID receives a majority of funding through the levy, which for years has been set at four per cent of the commercial mill rate. The increase will generate around $78,000 in 2018 and put PADBID on par for their budget. The old rate would have only brought in around $53,700.

In a presentation to council in April, PADBID board chair Stacy Coburn said the shortfall, if not relieved, would “really impede us from moving forward,” and hinder future planning and operations.

Mayor Greg Dionne was pleased to see council settle on a solution and said he did not expect to encounter a similar predicament down the road.

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“I can see that in the next year or so the BID getting a better handle on it,” he said. “One of there arguments was they didn’t know because we [City of Prince Albert] do the books. Well, they get monthly reports.”

Instead, Dionne believed one of the problems that led to the shortfall was the high turnover of staff at the organization. He believed with a new CEO at the helm and other staffers settling in, things will stabilize at the organization.

A further option pitched at an earlier meeting to help avoid a future shortfall and protect coffers was to increase and direct more money from parking meter revenue to the PADBID.

Dionne said this idea was a “non-starter,” as, despite the metres only lining downtown curbs, the revenue is used for general operations and “is not designated for just one area.”

“It is no different from fines and anything else,” he said. “My area doesn’t get more work because I pay more taxes. We build for the whole city.”

tyler.marr@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @JournoMarr