By Charlene Tebbutt

Council approves 2019 budget at special meeting

Dec 21, 2018 | 7:17 AM

After yet more debate and some heated exchanges, Prince Albert City Council has approved the 2019 budget document, approving millions of dollars in line items and ushering in a 3.9 per cent property tax increase.

There were no changes made to the budget document. Councillors met again Thursday afternoon for a special budget meeting after the budget failed to pass earlier this month.

The budget passed with a 5-4 vote. The budget is expected to be formally passed at city council’s next meeting Jan. 7.

The City is planning to move $300,000 collected from the roadways base tax to help lower the 2019 tax hike. Several councillors voiced their concern again over the idea, saying the money isn’t being used for what it should be.

Ward 1 Coun. Charlene Miller cited a letter from a local resident who said she was told by a different councillor that the City would not take money from the road fund to offset the tax increase. At that, Ward 5 Coun. Dennis Ogrodnick stood up to say he was the councillor who spoke with the resident at an event and said he told the resident there is usually some money budgeted that doesn’t get spent each year, and that those funds would go toward fiscal stabilization.

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Ogrodnick called on Miller to apologize for her “attack” on him, and was joined by Ward 4 Coun. Don Cody, who also called on Miller to take back her remarks.

“If you don’t know what you’re talking about, don’t say it,” Cody added.

Mayor Greg Dionne said the City has been up front about its plans for the roadways money, and said those who are suggesting otherwise are making a “straight-out fraudulent statement.” With an economic slowdown, more people are feeling the pinch, he said, and most residents have told him they are happy the tax increase isn’t too high. Dionne said the City has heard concerns from four local residents on the issue.

Dionne said the money being taken out of the roadways fund amounts to the cost of two city blocks not getting done in 2019.

“There is no secret here,” Dionne said. “I just take objection to all the negative comments around it.”

Ward 2 Coun. Terra Lennox-Zepp motioned to approve $60,000 in spending for new LED lighting at the Kinsmen Arena, and fund a new salt and sand storage building and new fuel storage tanks at the Municipal Service Centre. The three motions all failed to get enough support from the rest of council.

Lennox-Zepp said she was disappointed with the result.

“Citizens of Prince Albert want us to look at cost savings, not just for this year but on an ongoing basis,” she said. “What we should be doing as a city is considering the dollars that we spend today, in terms of how we can ensure reasonable taxation in the future.”

Ward 3 Coun. Evert Botha called on council to approve another $105,000 in spending to hire a new economic development manager, saying the city needs a champion to promote local business and growth opportunities. The position has been vacant for more than two years.

Botha’s motion also failed to get enough support from council to pass.

“We’re still not finding new businesses, new industry to come to the city,” Botha said. “I don’t believe the city should wait.”

While the City is without an economic development manager, Dionne said there are still things happening in Prince Albert. The City plans to announce a new manufacturer and new business moving to Prince Albert in the coming weeks, he said.

Dionne said a group of local contractors and business owners is also looking at other ways to help promote the city and encourage growth and expansion in the community.

“At the end of the day, we’re delivering what taxpayers wanted, low taxes,” Dionne added.

Editor’s Note: This story was updated at 9:07 a.m. on Dec. 21, 2018 to add that council is expected to approve the budget at their next meeting of council.

Charlene.tebbutt@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @CharleneTebbutt