Canmore’s 2015 operational budget is being presented to council as a wish list of programs and services included in council’s business plan and it comes with an added cost of $4.2 million.
Various additions being proposed by administration totals a net budget of $45.8 million, which is a 10 per cent increase over the 2014 budget of $41.7 million and would come with an 8.4 per cent municipal tax increase.
But administration was clear with council at its first budget committee meeting that they don’t expect everything in the budget to be approved.
Manager of finance Katherine Van Keimpema said additions to the budget are directly related to goals and priorities set out in the business plan.
“We have so many things going on in the Town of Canmore, so the business plan reflects that and so does the budget,” she said. “This is a really important message … administration realizes that an 8.4 per cent tax increase really isn’t going to be palatable.”
Along with proposed increased spending, some areas of the budget are experiencing increased revenues beyond what was projected, like Elevation Place and increased revenues from planning and development.
Van Keimpema said new growth is expected to add $140,000 in revenues to the budget next year, as 2014 saw an additional $95,000 collected in property taxes from new construction.
Chief administrative officer Lisa de Soto said solid waste services in particular has a number of additional or expanded services as a result of goals in the business plan like an organics collection, improved service at the recycling depot in Elk Run and enhancements to the large item cleanup program.
There are also uncontrollable costs, de Soto said, that administration does not have control over like reductions to provincial grants, software licencing fees, insurance, the RCMP contract, power and natural gas for municipal facilities and street lights and increased cost of the snow and ice removal contract. In total, those uncontrollable costs total $743,000 in 2015.
Manager of facilities Stephen Hanus said the increased costs for power at municipal facilities is due to increasing transmission fees.
“It is not about the volume of power we are consuming, but transmission fees that were static the last few years,” he said.
There are also increased costs for human resources as salaries and wages get a cost of living increase of 2.6 per cent next year, which equals $248,000 for a total cost of $15.4 million in 2015. There is also a performance-based pay allotment of $175,000.
“We believe as an employer and municipality that we have high expectations of our employees and performance-based pay is how we recognize that,” said manager of human resources Terese Rogers.
Various departments presented increased staffing needs to council. In total, administration is asking for another 8.1 full-time equivalent positions, including another planner, a project coordinator in the facilities department and 4.7 additional staff for public works.
Manager of planning Alaric Fish said he expects a continued upswing in the development industry next year. He said if Three Sisters continues to plan out the rest of its lands, the fee that would come with that application would pay for another staff member to handle that additional workload.
“This is largely driven by the planned workload … and increased development levels,” he said.
Hanus said the project coordinator is being requested because of the amount of growth the department has in assets. He said Canmore has 30 buildings throughout town and another $10 million in projects over the next five years.
“We have a lot of work to keep these buildings to a level of standard maintenance and operational efficiency,” he said. “We are certainly spread thin, our staff are experiencing levels of burnout.”
Public works, explained manager Andreas Comeau, is requesting an additional seasonal park operator, a seasonal park worker, a heavy duty mechanic, a seasonal streets and road operator and two solid waste services operators.
Comeau said every time developers hand over public land like parks and trails to the Town it increases the workload in that department. For example, he said Three Sisters has handed over ownership of the sports field adjacent to Our Lady of the Snows and as of next year the municipality will have to start maintaining that space.
As for a second heavy duty mechanic on the staff roster, Comeau said it is critical to getting fleet vehicles like garbage and fire trucks back on the road.
“What is most important is our repair time and wait time for vehicles,” he said.
The added position for streets and roads, Comeau added, is to support the additional events taking place in Canmore and “special events really have become a core service in addition to street sweeping and clearing streets and sidewalks.”
Family and Community Social Services manager Brenda Caston recommended developing a 211 service for the community. The service would provide social services information and support after business hours and on weekends.
That puts added costs in that department along with creating a metric for a living wage in Canmore and a cultural master plan.
While the province pays 80 per cent of eligible FCSS services, de Soto said funding has not kept pace with inflation and does not apply to certain services like emergency social services training for staff.
In 2015, that department’s budget exceeds provincial funding cap by $28,000, which is $5,500 more than 2014.
“We have been bringing in those funds from (FCSS reserves) to try to offset this differential we are not getting from the province,” de Soto said.
