"For yet another year we have been able to hold the line on taxes and make necessary and key investments in City infrastructure. We are happy to hold the 2020 paving budget which was increased 100% in last years’ budget and be able to proceed with ideas generated through the Rupert 2030 vision. The financial plan reaffirms Council’s commitment to addressing major infrastructure challenges such as the impending Water Treatment Facility and RCMP detachment. The pandemic hasn’t derailed these critical projects and staff have proposed a way to mitigate future increases for inevitable capital needs.” -- Prince Rupert Mayor Lee Brain
Monday night, the City's Financial Officer Corinne Bomben delivered the 2021 City Budget, Ms. Bomben taking Council through the steps of the budget process. Making note of the services and challenges that make for the scope of the day to day services of the City and the work of the 150 full time civic workers and the near 100 casual workers of the civic workforce that deliver them.
The CFO spoke of the challenges of the COVID pandemic and the unusual weather which has resulted in extended water advisories, one of which remains in place to this day.
Ms. Bomben then outlined the nature of the various civic funds and how the city's finances contribute to how they work.
The CFO highlighted such items as the Woodworth Dam and the new landfill cell, as well as ongoing design work for the water treatment facility planning and the replacement of the RCMP detachment, both delayed she stated by the pandemic.
As well, she made note of the work planned for the revitalization of the waterfront by Kwinitsa, including work planned for the CN station and plans for the new Ferry Dock, as well as a range of other capital projects planned.
When it comes to 2021, Ms Bomben outlined that there are no expansion plans for civic services, with civic contractual wages and benefits and RCMP contract increases offset through operational savings mostly at the Recreation Centre and Airport ferry as well last through temporary staff attrition and other operational savings.
As for the COVID related losses on the year, they will be mitigated through funding from the province, as well as new taxes from expansion and new industrial builds which have brought in new taxation added.
All of those element contributed to the declaration of a budget surplus and with that no increase to the residential mill rate.
There is apparently enough of a surplus that the CFO has proposed that the 850,000 dollars be put towards a reserve fund for future capital replacement and renewal needs that will help address the infrastructure deficit in the community.
As part of the presentation, Ms. Bobmen also took Council and taxpayers through the paces on how the mill rate works and how it impacts on civic taxes, noting of consecutive decreases of the mill rate over the last seven years. She also relayed some information on tax deferral and home owner grant programs.
The CFO highlighted a change to the Home Owner grant process, which requires applying for the grant from the province now, before the tax payment deadline of July 2nd, adding that homeowners can no longer apply for the grant through their municipal tax notice.
As she brought her presentation to a close, Ms. Bomben noted that the budget documentation would be available on line, with print copies available at the Public Library and at City Hall.
Towards engagement, with public health measures still in place, the consultation process will take place by way of email, with residents asked to address their comments or questions directed to the Finance office prior to the March 22nd and April 12th, with those contributions to be read out and answered if required at the meetings of those nights.
As we outlined yesterday, the CFO also outlined a new budget simulation program for residents to make use of, allowing them to adjust the budget according to what they believe are priorities, with the result providing the user with a glimpse at how budgets are created.
The simulation is available on the city website and will remain active until April 13th.
When it came to questions or comments from Council, there were much of the latter and few of the former.
Mayor Lee Brain led the council off, thanking the CFO and her staff for their work on the budget preparation, noting how much has changed since they began the journey six years ago, highlighting the surplus and the ability to hold off on any tax increases for another year.
Around the Council Zoom Screen, Councillor Randhawa led off the discussion, paying his tributes to the staff for their work and noting of the challenges that faced the community in the last year.
Councillor Mirau echoed those comments and called attention to the importance of the 850,000 dollars proposed for capital reserves, which the Councillor observed will provide for a sustained effort to address uncertainty and address infrastructure and asset management goals.
He also hailed the introduction of the budget simulation project which he described as a huge step forward towards being as open as possible on how taxes are spent and will give community members a good sense of where the community priorities may be.
Councillor Adey expressed his admiration to staff towards their work and then posed a question related to community engagement, seeking clarity on other avenues of communicating public feedback on the budget and presenting the results of any engagement.
Ms. Bomben reinforced that printed copies will be available, noting that residents can email questions or call city hall, as well as access information through the internet.
In a follow up the Councillor asked what kind of information relay may be in mind towards the changes to the Home owner grant process.
In reply, Ms. Bomben noted that it will be placed on the city website and is available on the provincial website, as well as a print reminder to be delivered through the arrival of the city tax bills, as well the city plans to provide for reminders through the upcoming Council Sessions.
The CFO also advised that the city will be receiving updates from the province as to who has actually applied for the grant which will then be uploaded into their system, though she reinforced that the application for the grants should be done with time in mind towards the deadline of July 2nd.
As the Mayor did, Councillor Niesh noted that the budget process makes for a big difference from six years ago and hailed the work of staff under the circumstances of COVID, he also made note of the assistance that the provincial funding for a COVID restart will provide towards some of the city's financial challenges.
Mr. Niesh also made note of the change to the Homeowner Grant process and what residents need to be aware of. Mr. Niesh also expressed some enthusiasm for the Budget simulation program that residents can make use of and how it's a chance for people in the coffee shops to show Council how they should spend money.
Councillor Cunningham joined in on the praise of staff and the work they did on the budget, noting how achieving status quo is an accomplishment for the city, he too was looking forward to seeing how the community makes use of the simulation program.
He also hailed the budget surplus and putting the money into asset management will be a legacy for future councils. He also observed that he would do his best to share word of the Home Owner grant changes.
Councillor Skelton-Morven noted that the budget was delivered on International Women's Day and paid his tributes to the 'rock star women on our staff' hailing the progressive and forward thinking ways that they have addressed the financial needs of the city. He also noted the ability to deliver another year of no tax increases for the community.
The Councillor also took a moment to speak towards staff salaries, noting of social media chatter and how the headlines that are published out of context on salaries and outlined how he views the way to maintain some of the best staff in the country means that the city needs to compensate them fairly, something which he called super, super importmant.
Mr. Skelton-Morven also suggested that it is unfair to compare Prince Rupert staff members with communities of equal size; observing that Prince Rupert has many more elements to consider such as export-import operations, telecommunications company with multiple municipal enterprises and counting.
He also reinforced how the city staff members are supportive of the community and that he believes that they need to be compensated fairly for the work that they do.
While the Council members hailed the hard work of the Finance office which was well earned praise, what they didn't do was to dig a little deeper into all the 'financial wizardry' of the finance office as Councillor Cunningham put it, that to provide a bit of background as to how the financial plan comes about.
Council did not explore, or ask for any details on the city's financial picture over the last year, an opportunity lost to advise the public when it comes to some of the financial shortfalls of the year and what departments or services were the most affected and and how the city addressed them.
There was no mention of Legacy Corp and whether that financial instrument has been used this year as a cushion towards challenging times. No questions on the delay of the work on the Woodworth dam and if there have been any additional costs to bear from those delays. No enquiries as to the financials from the marina, airport or other growing list of civic enterprises that have become part of the civic portfolio in recent years.
Now council probably already knows the answers to those questions, while those of us at home are much more in the dark and a more helpful part of their contribution to Budget presentation night would be to dig a little deeper into the details on our behalf.
For the most part, the Budget Presentation has morphed into a preview of the Annual Review delivered later in the Spring; with little information to guide community residents as to the challenges that are in place and what the taxpayers get for their investment towards the new vision plans that have been created.
Some helpful information can be found in the accompanying Five Year Financial Plan documentation, though it too can provide some themes that perhaps could be explored further by Council to provide for a full picture for the community when it comes to crafting the budget.
 |
| Click on above to enlarge |
This year will also mean less interaction with the public owing to the COVID situation, while they have moved to a new Zoom format, Council does not appear to be inclined to include the public into the Council sessions to participate, something that other communities have incorporated as part of their approach to the COVID measures.
For this year, residents are being asked to forward their correspondences to the city by way of email, the comments or questions to be read aloud and answers provided if required.
As well, residents can take part in an online simulation project, submitting their version of a budget for council's consideration. A novel idea and one worth pursuing, but as for a full engagement of the community it still comes up a bit short in providing the council members with the view of the community on how they spend our money, or if residents support the many changes that have been made in the last few years as the city council pursues its vision.
In a normal setting, community members would have the option to appear at City Council and provide their contributions in person and follow up on answers if something they hear catches their attention.
That will be lost this year, and with it, Council will also lose an opportunity to hear the full scale of opinion from those who await their tax bills in May.
You can review City's Budget presentation as follows:
Monday's presentation is also available from the City's Video Archive, it starts at the two minute mark.
As the budget process moves forward, we will archive further items from the City and any media themes towards it on our archive page.
For more notes on Monday's Council Session see our Council Timeline.
A wider overview of past Council Discussion themes can be explored here.
Cross posted from the North Coast Review.
No comments:
Post a Comment