The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
A prominent city councillor wants residents to scale back their expectations of municipal government as tax dollars become increasingly stretched. Coun. Colleen McKee says repairs to Flin Flon's aging infrastructure must now take priority over expenditures such as donations to non-profit organizations. 'We've got to start thinking like a small town, because that's what we're becoming,' she said at last week's council meeting. 'These are times when we have to step up as a community and start looking after what we need to look after.' Coun. McKee, chair of the city's Finance Committee, said council has 'been left with a legacy of antiquated infrastructure' and 'it's time to pay the piper.' 'It's either we're at the point where we start shutting things down or we start fixing them,' she said, describing the situation as 'a crossroads.' Coun. McKee said she cannot support taxpayer funding for groups like service clubs 'when I can't even offer (someone) clean drinking water anymore because I can't fix the pipe to get the water to them.' Adding to the challenges, she said, is the fact that many non-residents utilize infrastructure funded solely by Flin Flon taxpayers. 'We're in a situation in our community where we've got outlying communities that are feeding off of us and have for years,' said Coun. McKee. 'We've been the big brother that has paid for things for many, many years. We can't pay anymore.' Her comments were some of the starkest yet in illustrating the financial crunch facing City Hall. But Kathryn Church, a concerned resident, wondered whether taxpayers were being treated fairly. 'We're saying that we have so much debt and our taxes keep going up and up,' said Church, who attended the council meeting. 'I mean, (my property) taxes are pretty much comparable to my brother and sister-in-law who live in a brand new community just in Winnipeg. And it's just kind of frustrating when we're going to be losing more and more services but our taxes keep going up and up.' Coun. McKee said she herself as a taxpayer is also 'frustrated,' but she pointed to Flin Flon's dwindling tax base. See 'New' on pg. Continued from pg. 'The fact of the matter is, is if you want to look for a new neighbourhood in Flin Flon, you're not going to find one,' she said. 'You know where you're going to find it? Out at the lake. That's where you're going to find it, because no one's building here. We need to somehow encourage people to stay in this community and build in this community because that's how we start to stabilize in our tax base.' Council has already taken some steps to encourage residential construction within Flin Flon. The city now offers financial incentives for home construction on Roche and Murton boulevards, and council has shown a willingness to negotiate on other lots. In terms of securing support from non-residents, Coun. McKee said it's not 'a matter of going after anyone or saying, 'We need you to bail us out.'' 'It's a matter of, let's work together and let's come up with a solution so that we all win,' she said. But Coun. McKee was not overly optimistic at the current prospects of such partnerships developing. 'Honestly, I don't see a lot of people jumping to the table to try to help us figure it out,' she said. Coun. Bill Hanson said the public facilities Flin Flon operates are actually 'very affordable' _ if everyone using them helps pay for them. 'That's the bottom line. If the users that are out there right now using them would pay their share, we wouldn't be in a problem at all,' he said. Coun. Babcock pointed out that if a municipal facility were to close due to budget constraints, it will close for everyone _ not just Flin Flonners. 'The people that live outside the community will be without, too,' he said. 'I don't know how we get that message across to them, what more we have to do.' Despite such challenges, Coun. Karen MacKinnon said Flin Flon is actually 'far ahead' of some other Manitoba communities. '...we do have our sewage treatment plant and we are just about ready to open our water treatment plant,' she said. 'A lot of these (communities) don't have a clue where they're going to start.' Coun. MacKinnon also praised the selection of public facilities in Flin Flon, saying 'there's a lot going on in this community.' The frank discussion came after Coun. McKee announced council has now met with all city department heads to discuss increased efficiencies for the upcoming budget. In terms of budgeting, she said 'everything is under consideration' but gave no specifics. Much of the budget will again be spent on below-ground infrastructure, Coun. McKee said. Coun. McKee asked that residents with budget suggestions contact her, noting that her number is in the phonebook.
