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.
City council has signed off on a new budget that trims spending, slightly boosts taxes and maintains public buildings that may be at risk of future closure. After unveiling the budget to the public last week, councillors promptly called a special meeting to give third and final approval to their long-awaited 2013 budget. 'It's my belief that we need to challenge the way we think and change the way we do business,' said Coun. Colleen McKee, chair of the Finance Committee, during the budget presentation. 'The first step is to stabilize our spending by becoming more efficient in all areas of the city. I think that we have made attempts to do that.' The budget raises the residential mill rate by 0.99 per cent. The end result is that a home valued at $50,000 will pay an extra $11.70, a home worth $100,000 an additional $23.20, and a $200,000 home an extra $46.80. More revenue The city said nearly one-third of the mill rate increase is attributable to school taxes. The remainder stems from council's decision to derive more revenue from property taxes. The commercial mill rate, paid by businesses, goes up by 1.55 per cent. The budget reduces overall spending by $321,923, or 2.8 per cent, from last year for total expenditures of $11.37 million. Hudbay, which pays an annual grant instead of property taxes, will contribute 48 per cent of city revenue with $5.48 million, a three per cent increase over last year. Council's spending cuts include the cancellation of the spring clean-up pick-up campaign, a reduction in summer students and closure of the concession at the zoo. Other savings were scattered here and there, with council and city department heads having worked to enact greater efficiencies across the municipality. It all allowed council to survive another budget year without closing a recreational facility, something that has been increasingly viewed as a possibility. See 'We' on pg. Continued from pg. 'The recreational buildings don't go away but the cost to maintain them is, as they age, increasing,' said Coun. McKee. 'And we now have reached a point where we may have to consider closure of some of these landmark buildings.' Saying research has shown that recreational amenities are key to drawing new residents, Coun. McKee asked, 'Will people want to live here if ours are shut down?' As one way of averting such closures, council has formed a committee with the goal of building funding partnerships with sister communities. Coun. McKee said she has heard from people who wonder why they should pay for rec facilities they do not use. She compared this to the argument that people should not pay education taxes if they do not have children in school. 'Although we don't use all public amenities, we all use or have used them from time to time,' Coun. McKee said. 'Some use more than others, but one thing to remember is, we can't use what we don't have. Most neighbouring communities have used Flin Flon's infrastructure like the airport, the Aqua Centre. They've attended functions at the Community Hall, they attend Bomber games (on) a regular basis at the Whitney Forum. They've used the landfill. In fact, most (of those) people work in Flin Flon.' Coun. McKee touched as well on other familiar challenges confronting the municipality. 'Our community is aging above ground and below ground,' she said. 'Our tax base has been reduced to half of what it used to be. Outlying communities are drawing (people) and developing while Flin Flon still maintains core infrastructure.' Coun. McKee also made note of major government-mandated expenditures like the new water treatment plant. At the same time, she said, council has received a 'strong message' not to raise taxes. As previously reported, capital spending this year totals $1.42 million. Among the major costs: new roofs for the library, Community Hall and RCMP detachment ($355,000), new water lines on Green Street ($300,000) and a loader unit ($142,845). At the public budget presentation held last Thursday, Aug. 15 at the city hall council chambers, council earned some praise for its budget and overall direction. But resident Amy Sapergia Green stressed the importance of devising 'a very clear plan' for the future so that the next council can 'hit the ground running' and continue with progress that has been made. That had Mayor George Fontaine declaring that council does indeed have a plan but can only do so much at once. 'We're saying, we're in a situation (of) very changing times and we do have a plan,' he said. 'However, do we have every step of the plan figured out? No, because it's a political kind of thing as well and you move a little bit at a time. And you can't just walk in and change the world.' Added Mayor Fontaine: 'I don't think there's been a council around for one very long time who has made as many major changes in the way that we're doing things as we have, and some of the changes that we've applied to make.' One example of a proposed change, he said, is council's hope to level out, more so, property taxes by changing how police and fire services are funded. Coun. McKee said simply that 'the biggest thing is we need to put together a comprehensive plan to help us maneuver through the future.' Bruce Reid, another resident attending the presentation, said council 'has made outstanding moves to point out to people the shortcomings in our system.' But plans are easily altered, Reid added, when there is a shortage of money. Last week marked the first time in memory, if not ever, that council has finalized a budget so late in the year. Council had initially hoped to include in the budget a fee to replace the portion of property taxes that homeowners now pay for police and fire protection. However, the Manitoba Municipal Board, which must approve this new fee, was not able to schedule a public hearing on the matter until tonight at 7 p.m. The new fee would raise taxes on low-end homes and lower them, at least in the short term, on high-end homes.
