Town council left budget deliberations looking at a 4.45 per cent tax increase, and requesting administration to pare that figure down further.
A 4.45 per increase translates to an average monthly property tax increase of $7.89.
“It’s still early to say what amount we are going to land at,” said Mayor Jeff Genung, adding that he is “fairly confident” staff will be able to find additional efficiencies prior to the Dec. 11 meeting when the 2018 budget will be voted on.
Genung and councillors headed into their Friday morning meeting with a 3.0 per cent proposed increase before them – a budget flagged as status quo.
While the contentious move to biweekly garbage pickup of black bins from weekly has been trashed for the time being, council looked to the town’s challenges at keeping pace with growth and opted to infuse the budget with a slight increase in services.
Deliberation standouts included additional firefighters and RCMP; accelerating the Centre Avenue rail crossing project; added resources to improve communications and public engagement; plans to engage on public transit and on a future arts/cultural site; and added funds to facilities life cycling.
Coun. Alex Reed, a fiscal conservative, said he wants to focus on reducing the proposed tax hike, sentiments echoed by Couns. Morgan Nagel and Patrick Wilson.
“This new council has to be the bearers of bad news with property tax increases to cover the short-sighted, poorly envisioned future the former council had for Cochrane,” said Reed, adding that he is also concerned with ongoing staff increases in the face of an economic downturn that has meant layoffs and pay cuts in the private sector.
Coun. Tara McFadden, who is serving her fourth term on town council, credits previous councils for laying the groundwork for current and future infrastructure projects – including the south bridge project and eastern arterial road that included complex land deals and the plans for expansion of the wastewater system.
The nominal tax hike last year of 0.83 per cent followed several years of very low tax increases – something McFadden said was to strike a balance given that residents were facing the “worst recession since the 1980s.”
Both Reed and Genung said they were pleased to see additional funds put toward the town’s infrastructure deficit, as council moved to approve adding one per cent to the property tax rate for facilities life cycling as proposed by CAO Dave Devana.
“Chartered accountants have identified life cycling for assets was an issue for municipalities … to me Cochrane is no different than any other municipality,” explained Devana, adding that incremental increases are common across the country as municipalities try to get closer to the recommended 10 to 15 per cent set aside annually for life cycling, in order to not rely on grants so heavily.
“We have been allocating about $1.9 million (annually) to capital reserves, which is about 7.36 per cent of our tax requisition … at (that amount) we’re short,” said Devana.
Facilities life cycling applies to such assets as recreational facilities, roads, bridges, pathways, sidewalks and town buildings – such as RCMP stations.
“Because we are not saving it means we have to borrow,” said Devana, with reference to the $17.4 million to be borrowed for the future RCMP station in Heartland; currently the town is working with RCMP and the province to get to the design phase, but the project is still likely a couple of years away from being shovel-ready.
Police service enhancements in the form of a town administrative crime analyst and an additional RCMP member were originally requested, and two additional RCMP members have since been added in to the draft budget; the total cost per member is $150,000 each, including compensation and equipment and $65,000 for the crime analyst.
Council directed staff to include $150,000 for one additional RCMP member in the 2018 budget with the other to be funded in 2019.
The four additional firefighters included in the first draft have been left in; there are no funds included for collective bargaining, as the current agreement does not expire until the end of the fiscal year.
The total estimated cost per firefighter including compensation and equipment is a little more than $100,000, although these numbers are subject to change following collective bargaining, which begins in the New Year.
According to Gerry Murphy, senior manager of community services for the town, four firefighters are hired at a time to equate to one full-time position in the suppression crews.
“As the service relies on a 24/7 operational model there are four shifts working 24 hours to provide full-time coverage. An increase in scheduled staff requires one on each shift for balanced coverage,” said Murphy.
A presentation delivered by former Cochrane fire chief Brian Winter at the Nov. 14 council meeting suggested future investigation into residential sprinkler systems for new home construction – what Winter believes would prove a tremendous cost-savings initiative for fire prevention, with a ballpark install of under between $3,000 to $5,000 per home.
Devana said council is “trying to close the gap,” with the emergency service ideal ratio of one officer for every 1,000 residents and that the current RCMP force of 20 members is significantly below that with town’s population of 27,000.
Council unanimously agreed to move the Centre Avenue rail crossing design up the capital projects list, redirecting $130,000 in reserve dollars to get the design underway for a four-lane at-grade crossing, which could be developed in the future to an above-grade crossing.
Council deferred any decisions on operations dollars for transit in the budget until spring deliberations - until the public engagement work for transit is complete and the community chooses the best route for buses.
Coun. Marni Fedeyko was pleased to see a boosted draft budget for equipment to support live streaming and recording of council sessions to $40,000 from $25,000, propelled by her motion delivered to council.
Coun. Susan Flowers earned a boost in seniors tax credit in the draft.
Coun. Nagel questioned the Cochrane Public Library’s request, which is based on the library sitting below the average per capita funding.
The three operating grant increases for the library ($66,177), Rockyview Regional Handibus Society ($21,187) and Cochrane and Area Victim Services ($10,000) have been left in the draft.
