Wednesday marked the second night of budget deliberations in North Battleford, and so far there have been no changes to the administration proposal to increase property taxes and utilities by two per cent each.
The main focus of night two was general government, leisure services and parks and recreation and city operations, with a big portion of the meeting dominated by capital requests.
In addition to the budgeted items are several capital requests that are currently listed as “unbudgeted,” meaning these projects do not currently have funding. Mayor Ryan Bater confirmed to reporters after the meeting that whether those projects get the green light or not could yet impact the budget and whether property taxes go up beyond the current two per cent proposed.
“That two per cent proposal from administration is a minimum. That could go up if those unbudgeted items become budgeted,” said Bater.
Public Forum Highlights
Time was set aside Wednesday night for members of the public to make presentations to council.
Two groups came forward. Battlefords Chamber of Commerce Chair Dallan Oberg spoke and acknowledged the tough job members of council had.
“A two per cent increase is not unexpected with the rate of inflation,” said Oberg. His presentation included a number of questions posed to administration, including questions about the surplus for UPAR (which administration explained is carried over from year to year) and the city’s partnerships with non-profits.
The second presentation was from the North Battleford City Historic Archives, who for months had been calling for a restoration of the salaried archivist position that was cut in the 2019 budget.
The part-time archivist position was listed as one of the “unfunded” requests in the budget in an amount close to $14,000. Archives committee chair Bill Wells made his pitch to council to restore the archivist position, pointing to the need to have someone in place with the knowledge needed to preserve the items.
“We believe that it is the best interests of the archives, to stay in the community, to reinstate a salaried archives position,” said Wells.
What seems likely now is that instead of reinstating the stand-alone archivist position, the city may instead fill one of their currently vacant galleries curator position with someone who can also take on the archives role as part of their duties.
“What is being proposed now is to incorporate that role into a senior gallery curator position. - very similar skill set and something that could be shared with the galleries,” said Bater to reporters.
This is a funded position in the budget, but Bater said there would be additional costs associated with it. That is something council would need to consider before the end of deliberations.
General Government
Council then delved into department budgets. General government is looking at a decrease in revenue of $174,000 and increase in wages and benefits of $136,000.
One item they are looking at in this department is a public relations and government relations role, to address the general reputation and image of North Battleford.
Capital items in this category include $125,000 for police/fire lighting, $10,000 for backup storage and $20,000 for agenda/minutes management software.
Leisure Services
Director Cheryl DeNeire made the presentation for Leisure Services and she reported revenues are expected to be steady in 2020. One thing that was noted was there are no major big events expected this coming year (Pinty’s Grand Slam curling, winter games, for example).
A few capital items were discussed for 2020. One is a library patio for the main library at $100,000.
“We talked about it considerably and I think we’ll be looking forward to some alternatives and options on that to come back to council,” said Bater.
“Clearly there were some questions about the need for that patio. We do have some safety concerns and we do have some logistical concerns in terms of water seeping into the basement, so those need to be addressed. But does it need to be a full use space for the library? That remains to be seen. So there’s still some decision points.”
Other capital items include parks irrigation system replacement at $30,000, $50,000 for the exterior of the Allen Sapp Gallery to address deterioration, $60,000 to replace aquatic centre lockers, $15,000 for the field house enhanced entry security system, $70,000 for a new play structure at Herb Sparrow park (in part to bring the playground back up to national standards) and $8,000 for a stump grinder.
Unbudgeted requests include $50,000 for a reforestation plan, $25,000 for reforestation implementation, $75,000 towards remediation of a Fairview Heights Parks community building and $160,000 for a new Zamboni. The proposed Zamboni would replace a 2012 model that has had many problems requiring repairs.
City Operations
The bulk of the presentation by Director of Operations Stewart Schafer outlined a number of capital needs.
The biggest item was $1.9 million for a massive sewer trunk main project, which three levels of government are funding at an estimated $13.6 million overall. The $1.9 million would go to design in 2020.
“The actual construction part will occur in 2021-22. At the end of 2022 we will see operational costs at that time,” Schafer told council.
Other big-ticket items in the capital budget include $800,000 for technology upgrades to the SCADA system at the water treatment plant, $125,000 towards Water Treatment Plant No. 1 HVAC upgrades (to address high chlorine and CO2) and $2.5 million for a project to replace 5,500 water meters in the city with advanced metering. The money for that project would be spread out over five years at $500,000 starting in 2020 and continuing through 2024.
Capital items for the airport include fencing in the amount of $50,000, mainly to prevent animals and even human beings from accessing the runways.
As well, $350,000 is proposed for a new airport plow truck to replace one that is 42 years old. The city will seek federal funding for that project.
Other items include $75,000 for repair of southbound lanes of the Territorial Drive and Highway 4 North Bypass intersection, $75,000 for fire hydrant replacement and $24,000 for a snow wind plow. Operations needs that are currently “unbudgeted” include $45,000 for a locker room trailer for the Waste Management Facility.
The third and final night of budget deliberations is Monday, Dec. 16. The budget items for Planning and Development will be presented on that evening.
