Budget 2012: City budget cruises through council

Friday, 14 December 2012 02:00 Ron Seymour Kelowna Daily Courier:
The 2013 city budget approved Thursday by council was almost identical to the preliminary spending plan suggested by staff.  Councillors didn't delete a single item from the budget, but they did add in four minor projects to bump the municipal tax hike to 2.58 per cent from 2.54 per cent.   As a result, the owner of a typical single-detached home with an assessed value of $454,000 will pay municipal taxes of $1,687 next summer, or $43 more than this year.   Council fairly sped through the budget-setting process, concluding the discussion in just over three hours. Previous budget meetings have been all-day affairs.   One reason for the relatively quick budget review was the trust council had placed in senior staff to produce a spending plan that was already lean and not in need of significant revision, Mayor Walter Gray said.   "Staff have a job to recommend what's needed and required, and providing they've done their job and are trusted by council, it doesn't leave a lot of room for debate, really," Gray told reporters.   "There's just obviously quite a common mind and common purpose between elected officials and staff," Gray said.   He predicted that most Kelowna homeowners will be content with the projected tax increase, which could be revised before final adoption next May. Gray said he didn't sense any great demand in the community for the kind of service and program reductions that might have been required had council chosen to make cuts to the budget proposed by staff.   "The key factor with the population is the quality and delivery of services," Gray said. "Once you establish a service,   taking it away is very difficult." The minor items approved by council for inclusion in the budget were flower planters for central Rutland, equipment for the fire department to calibrate self-contained breathing apparatus, more audible crosswalk signals and improvements to the Little Travellers Safety Village in Rutland.  For the first time, total tax collection will surpass the $100 million mark, coming in at $104 million. Spending on the RCMP makes up the single-biggest item in the operating budget, at nearly one-quarter of the total amount.   Four new RCMP officers will be hired in 2013, part of the city's plan to increase the detachment strength by 22 members over four years. The city's unionized workforce will also get a 1.5 per cent raise next year.   A key decision suggested by staff and accepted by council in the 2013 budget was to slightly reduce spending on capital works and direct those savings into the operating budget.   Following the so-called pay-as-you go capital improvement plan usually endorsed by council would have required the spending of $15.8 million of taxes on new municipal infrastructure.   But that was reduced in the budget to just over $14 million, with the difference put into the operating budget. Had council not done so, the municipal tax increase would have been about four per cent, not 2.58 per cent.   Coun. Gail Given said reducing the pay-as-you-go capital plan was an acceptable tax-cutting strategy during times of slow economic growth, but she hoped council would not adopt it as a permanent measure. To do so, she said, would put pressure on municipal infrastructure and just lead to more costly replacement requirements down the road.