Let it snow — the budget will be ready for it

Jeremy Deutsch - Kamloops This Week Published: February 19, 2009

More money for snow removal will be in this year’s city budget, while taxing residents for the full complement of RCMP officers is out. As city council continues to drudge through the 2009 budget, its come up with a way to keep a tax increase just below two per cent, yet maintain funding for core needs. The city has about $3 million of unexpended money left over from last year’s budget, so the money will be put toward one-time capital charges this year. Mayor Peter Milobar explained this isn’t a case of using money to fill in for a shortfall that will appear again next year but, instead, strengthens the city’s position because it’s going to projects that will be off the books. And rather than taxing residents for the full complement of 115 RCMP officers, which is unlikely to be realized, the city will instead tax 95 per cent of the level, saving $730,000. If, by chance, the city needs to cover the extra five per cent, it can take it out of its reserved fund. “It’s more real-time budgeting in terms of what the true costs of the RCMP are,” Milobar said.

Some of those savings will go toward increasing the level of snow-removal service. A proposal by the public works department was added to the supplementary budget, seeking additional staffing and equipment to increase snow removal from bus stops as well as maintaining regular levels of snow clearing. The service increase would see the addition of a three-person crew for 14 weeks between November and February. Their focus would be on clearing bus stops and lowered curbs at crosswalks and intersections, five days a week, for eight hours a day. The annual operating cost for the service would be $125,000 plus a one-time capital cost of 150,000 for a tractor with a snowblower attachment. Next week, council will finalize the capital projects that made it into this year’s budget. Milobar pointed out council has already made significant cuts, including $600,000 from the water utility and $300,000 for a sports centre lounge, while being mindful to not undermine core services. “It would be very easy in this environment to cut away at all the core services under the heading ‘because of the economy,’” he said.