Council looks to trim more from budget shortfall

Bruce Walkinshaw - Penticton Western News Published: December 21, 2010 6:00 PM
The City of Penticton currently has a projected $868,000 shortfall in its 2011 budget that council will have to find a way to make up during budget deliberations in January, according to its top treasurer.  But it could be worse.  In his budget update Monday, city treasurer Doug Leahy reported since the city’s 21 job cuts and organizational restructuring in November the shortfall has been decreased from $1.7 million. And, compared to a $2.7 million shortfall in the 2010 budget, it has been reduced by just under $2 million in one year.  “We balance the (2010 $2.7 million) shortfall with three items: a reserve transfer of $1.4 million, a closure of the pool (and thus no labour costs) and a tax increase of 2.5 per cent generating $750,000,” Leahy said. However, that was last year and this is this year: the reserve transfer money has all but dried up and the pool will reopen next year, requiring even more staffing. So, as much as council has taken the city’s finances out of the snowy woods of a budgetary shortfall that ran deep, it still has many miles to go before it can sleep.

Leahy estimated that a one per cent tax increase would bring about $245,000 in increased revenue — meaning roughly 3.5 per cent would translate to $868,000. However, he, Mayor Dan Ashton and city CAO Annette Antoniak were all adamant that council wants to avoid raising taxes as much as possible, if not all together.  Areas where they might look to make up the shortfall, said Leahy, include: “productivity, efficiencies, reviewing programs and services, tasking all departments to reinvent themselves, reviewing user fees, and reviewing civic and permissive grants.” Council may also have some carry-forward money from projects included in last year’s budget, most significantly the community centre expansion and upgrades and the sewer treatment plant project, he added.  Antoniak said city staff and management have come up with several ideas to help make up the shortfall.  “What we have worked extensively on as a staff are some cost efficiencies and a whole bunch of productivity ideas that we will be bringing forward to council as part of their deliberations in January to close that gap,” she said.  “We will continue to tweak it as we go. We made some pretty massive changes in the organization, so we will continue to look at how that works and move forward.”  Ashton encouraged residents to contribute in the discussion.  “This will be a very open procedure,” he said. “Please contact myself or any of the councillors or show up during the budget review process. We would really like to have the public’s input on this.”
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Don Quixote Note: In last years 2010 Vernon budget 1%=$242,063.