Council swings budget axe

Ron Seymour 2009-01-08 Kelowna Daily Courier:

Parks took the biggest hit Wednesday as Kelowna city council worked to reduce the projected municipal tax increase of 4.5 per cent. Through 11 hours of deliberations, council had agreed to trim more than $1.2 million from the 2009 budget. Mayor Sharon Shepherd and several councillors said they were working towards achieving a three per cent tax increase. “I think we‘re going to come in around three per cent, or slightly lower,” Shepherd said at 7 p.m., when council took a late dinner break. “It‘s a very tough year, and we‘ve heard from the public that we have to pay attention to the impact of the budget on their taxes,” Shepherd said. At the 8 a.m. outset of the meeting, city staff – for the first time in such budget deliberations – suggested almost two dozen spending cuts, totalling almost $1.4 million. The unusual step was taken, finance officials said, because of the marked deterioration of the economy since budget preparations began in mid-2008.

“We recognize that times have changed since the budget was initially prepared,” finance director Keith Grayston said. Of the $1.2 million eliminated from this year‘s budget, more than half was on parks-related projects, either land acquisition or development of properties already purchased by the city. For example, $495,000 for the development of a neighbourhood park on Mugford Road was removed from this year‘s budget. Council also trimmed spending on City Hall computer upgrades, planning for building replacements, public art and new office furniture. “Every department at City Hall needs to tighten their belt a little bit,” Coun. Andre Blanleil said.

If the tax increase winds up coming in at three per cent when the municipal budget is formally adopted in the spring, that would translate into a $47 increase for the owner of a typical Kelowna single-family home assessed at $495,000. They would see the municipal portion of their total property tax bill rise from $1,510 to $1,557. That does not include school taxes, regional taxes and other fees and charges, which add about another 40 per cent to the total tax bill. More so than in any other recent budget debate, there were repeated references by a variety of councillors to keeping the document “lean” and acknowledging the uncertain economic conditions.

Coun. Charlie Hodge was successful in suggesting reduced spending on computer upgrades, saying “I just think we could shop a little bit better.” But Coun. Robert Hobson defended budget increases in a number of areas, suggesting that ensuring operational efficiency is more important than being seen to curry favour with the public. “I‘m more interested with the efficiency of the system than the headlines,” Hobson said. Council had not wrapped up budget deliberations by press dealine.