Sechelt council’s department-by-department review of the district’s 2020 operating budget continued with a marathon five-hour meeting on Feb. 26.
In a press release ahead of the first meeting dedicated to the department-by-department review, held Feb. 12, director of financial services David Douglas said, “We are taking a different approach to the budget this year. We are walking through each department budget carefully so council and the public have a good understanding of what each service costs so the final 2020 budget can align with the services the community values.”
The bigger departmental budget increases include $130,000 for the engineering department, which includes creation of a new position, and $209,000 for planning and development. Both are reporting decreased revenues from 2019.
Engineering, for example, is predicting a drop of about $180,000 “due to a downturn in developments.”
The planning department estimates revenue from “fees, rates and sale of services” will be down about $149,000.
Other significant items raised at the Feb. 26 meeting included $15,000 for community public art projects. “Community-driven art projects add vibrancy, foster community identity and civic pride, engage youth, deter unwanted graffiti, and support local arts,” said Siobhan Smith, arts, culture and communications coordinator, in her presentation.
The communications department’s 2020 budget ask includes $25,000 to commission a community satisfaction survey, which the district has conducted typically every two to four years. Communication manger Julie Rogers said council will have to weigh how useful the data is versus the high cost. “If it’s something that you’re interested in, yes we’re due,” she said.
New staffing proposals include $72,300 for an administrative assistant, who would support several departments under the supervision of communications.
At the earlier meeting, Feb. 12, Sunshine Coast RCMP Staff Sgt. Poppy Hallam asked for a budget increase to hire a crime prevention coordinator, who would be added as one of the detachment’s municipal employees at a cost of about $72,000 per year.
The coordinator would work on community-based crime prevention programs, such as Block Watch or Citizens on Patrol, and help with regular front-office tasks like criminal record checks.
Also at the Feb. 12 meeting, Coun. Tom Lamb put forward the idea of a tax levy to fund an affordable housing reserve. Lamb gave the example of a $10 levy on a house with a $500,000 assessed value.
At the Feb. 26 meeting, Douglas came back with an analysis that suggested if Lamb’s idea were applied to all property classes it would bring in about $81,000 per year.
“It’s less than I anticipated,” commented Mayor Darnelda Siegers, who signalled support for the idea at the earlier meeting. “But it’s a good place to start.”
Lamb said he felt the figure, which comes out just under the amount that a general one per cent tax increase would yield, was close to what he’d hoped to see.
“It's a pretty good number when you think that would come in consecutively and if you look back over the last couple years – what did we get in affordable housing? So I’m pretty happy with that number. I didn’t want it to be over $100,000,” Lamb said.
The draft budget projects a deficit of around $1.25 million in “taxes required from rate increase.” A one per cent increase in taxes would bring in $92,000.
Council’s budget discussions continue in March with a review of the capital plan and requests from community associations. Those will be followed by a look at the fully costed-out combined budget, which is when council is expected to start making decisions on specific line items.
