Photo by Justin Dionne

By Emily Keller

2020 budget

Approximately $5.4 million chopped from city budget Wednesday

Nov 13, 2019 | 6:37 PM

The first-round of 2020 budget deliberations went on Wednesday.

City management was provided with a target tax change of plus or minus 1.5% and had put together a series of strategies to reach that goal.

Mayor Bill Given says it was a challenging day for council.

“Overall, council approved approximately $5.4 million in reductions to the city’s budget, and those reductions will be seen in a number of different service areas across the organization. Some will be obvious to the community and some will be less obvious to the community.”

The packages presented Wednesday contained recommended reductions, beginning with reductions in Protective and Social Services.

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Second came reductions to Infrastructure and Economic Development, where council approved the following:

• $315,786 from inspection services
• $236,638 to planning and development

A recommended cut to environmental services was also brought up and caused discussion. Councilor Chris Thiessen moved to have the proposed $681,576 cut to environmental services and development engineering to be changed to a $581,576 reduction. His amendment passed.

In Community Services, cuts were made to the following:

• $400,000 from Eastlink Centre management, administration and programming, including cuts to janitorial services.
• $200,000 from the Coca-Cola Centre.
• $20,000 from cemetery maintenance .
• $280,000 from parks administration and operations.
• $470,000 from mowing U-lots, roadside ditches, irrigation and weed control, including consistent upkeep of green spaces.
• $106,437 from administration of the Dave Barr Centre.
• $37,033 from the Montrose Cultural Centre, including the Teresa Sargent Hall, administration and the concourse.
• $400,000 from transit services, including considerations of route removals and time changes.
• $28,180 from community group funding.
• $50,000 to large scale tourism funding.
• $24,781 from the museum.

Motions to make reductions to Muskoseepi Park Pavilion administration and to community rec. development did not carry. Motions to make cuts to family programs and special events in Muskoseepi Park were postponed for Thursday.

A $25,000 reduction was made to the council’s general budget, which administration said is in line with historical spending patterns.

Finally, for Corporate Services, a reduction of $353,585 was made for ITS client services, which includes computer replacements and $200,000 from staff development, both of which directly affect city council and staff.

All in all, Mayor Given this year’s budget differs greatly in from previous years.

“In some areas, that means reducing expenses in one area so that we can redirect that spending to another higher priority service area, and in some cases, it just means reducing the level of service that we provide in an area. That is substantially different than when council members or the community are seeing new things being added.”

At the end of Wednesday’s discussion, city administration had come up with two options, to either maintain the anticipated transfer of $2.3 million to reserves and have a tax increase of 2.31%, or to move $1.56 million to reserves and have a tax increase of 1.5%..

No final decisions were made regarding tax impacts as budget deliberations continue Thursday morning at city hall.