Councillors ask staff to present budget cut scenarios

Aaron Orlando - Revelstoke Times Review Published: December 24, 2010 1:00 AM
Councillors give department heads "holiday homework," requesting five and 10 per cent budget cut scenarios over two years
Revelstoke city councillors have asked city department heads to bring them trimmed budget scenarios based on five and ten per cent cut scenarios when council meets again in the new year. A motion presented by Coun. Chris Johnston asks for expenditure reductions based on 2010 levels. Johnston's motion came at the opening of the city's third budget meeting on Dec. 21.  The first scenario would cut 2.5 per cent a year over two years.  The second scenario asks for 5 per cent a year over two years. "Reductions are to be to items affecting tax increases/decreases and savings should be sustainable and not merely deferrals," Johnston writes in a written motion circulated to councillors. "If possible, a brief statement of possible service impacts should be noted with any significant reductions."

Almost all councillors expressed their view that budget cuts needed to be made, but they held different views on how to achieve them. Mayor David Raven said it was up to council to make the tough choices. "You have to appreciate my background of 35 years of being a bureaucrat," he said. In his experience, when left to their own devices, staff will tend to cut things that don't affect them. Council should decide "what's important and what's not," he said. Johnston said the idea of the exercise wasn't to abdicate council's responsibility to decide, but to gather "staff perspective" before moving forward with the process. He said, for example, that individual line items could be abstract, and council could make better decisions with staff input. Coun. Tony Scarcella said council needed to take the bull by the horns and make cuts, saying $1.5 to $1.6 million in savings were needed. He also suggested freezing business taxes for five years. Coun. Phil Welock said he felt 2.5 per cent on the first year might be on the low side, saying he was thinking seven per cent. Johnston said the 5 and 10 per cent scenarios were arbitrary, and the actual number "might be somewhere in between."In the end, Mayor Raven said he thought it could be a valuable exercise. The committee members agreed to request the budget changes. The discussion took place at the Dec. 21 committee of the whole meeting. Official city council approval is needed and is likely since the committee consists of the mayor and council, though changes and amendments do occur.
Procedure issues worked out
Councillor Antoinette Halberstadt requested clarification on procedure through the budget process. Up until now, said Halberstadt, she'd "kept (her) mouth shut," based on the understanding that that only information and clarification questions were allowed during the first review of the 2011–2015 financial plan. Other councillors, however, had expressed their views on certain budget items, verbally marking them to be cut in the future.  She wanted this to stop. "I ... don't want other councillors to go there yet," she said.  Coun. Scarcella disagreed. "It's about time to get into the meat, starting today," he said. "People expect us to be leaders in this community and start to get at it."  In the end, council agreed to wait until finance director Graham Inglis had finished presenting the first preview of the draft plan before starting to decide on cuts.  Budget focus group member Bob Melnyk asked where comments from the members from the business and residential focus group fit in. Mayor Raven said he anticipated budget workshops in January where focus group members could bring forth their ideas.