After much debate, Erin council has accepted a number of items in the town’s 2017 draft budget.
Director of finance Ursula D’Angelo presented budget requests again at a Nov. 23 special council meeting with the recommendations of the executive team, which includes D’Angelo, clerk Dina Lundy and interim CAO Derek McCaughan.
D’Angelo explained that a 1% increase in taxes is about $60,000 in the budget.
Council went through each department and was asked to agree to the recommendations. If they did not agree, they were to raise a motion to add or remove an item.
The departments submitted $285,600 in resource requests, of which $171,300 is recommended; and $9.3 million in capital requests, of which $5.5 million is recommended.
General government
Council approved a security package for the administrative building at a cost of $15,000 and the hiring of Michael Tapp as a full-time IT staff member. Tapp had been in a contract position.
Many departments were seeking an administration assistant. D’Angelo recommended that two part-time administration contract positions be offered at a cost of $62,000 in order to help with all departments, which was accepted by council.
Councillor John Brennan moved to add in video recording of meetings at a cost of $18,000 but the motion failed (Brennan and councillor Matt Sammut were in favour, while Mayor Allan Alls and councillors Jeff Duncan and Rob Smith were opposed).
Sammut then moved to include $7,000 in the budget for a testing phase for video recording via a cheaper option.
“It is doable at that level, at a simpler level,” said Sammut.
Brennan added the $7,000 could at least be a starting point to figure out the feasibility of using a simpler option. The motion passed with Brennan, Sammut and Smith in favour.
Fire department
Duncan asked for $6,000 for new uniforms for firefighters – half the amount sought by the fire chief.
“I was on council in the early 2000s when council last … put money into new uniforms,” he said.
The motion was carried with Brennan, Duncan and Smith in favour.
Duncan also moved to purchase one pair of hydraulic shears this year instead of two. Sammut said he would like to see a report that clearly shows the town needs the shears.
“I’m not saying I don’t believe our (fire) chief… I want to see objective data,” said Sammut.
However, McCaughan said Fire Chief Dan Callaghan was clear with council on the need of the hydraulic shears.
“This is going to become a major issue for the fire department,” he said, adding council needs to decide when would be the best time to purchase.
The motion failed with Alls, Brennan and Sammut opposed.
Duncan asked to transfer $75,000 for the new tanker fire truck from the tax stabilization reserve fund to the fire vehicle reserves.
“This is equipment that we know we’re going to have to deal with,” said Duncan.
The motion was approved.
Roads
The roads capital requests were accepted as recommended.
Big ticket items include Station Street rehabilitation, Daniel Street reconstruction, Thompson Crescent resurfacing, paving of McMillan Park parking lot, and crosswalk on Main Street in Erin feasibility.
The total recommended capital budget for the roads department is $3.67 million.
Recreation
Sammut moved to remove the $5,000 increase in the operations budget for parks and playground maintenance.
“I don’t want to keep throwing money at something and not have a plan,” said Sammut.
Recreations manager Graham Smith said the addition to the budget would help bring the equipment up to CSA standards.
Both Rob Smith and Sammut said they would like to see a strategic plan for parks in Erin.
“This is a $5,000 item that council is debating. Mr. Smith believes that he has a need and can spend that money today, or in 2017,” said McCaughan.
“The issue of not having a strategic approach is noted; I agree with you it needs to be resolved (but) we’re not going to resolve it this evening.”
The motion to remove the $5,000 failed with Alls, Brennan and Duncan opposed.
Alls asked to include $50,000 of the requested $390,000 for a generator for an emergency response plan at Centre 2000. The funds would come from a working capital reserve and not affect the tax base. The motion was passed unopposed.
Committees
The committee requests came later in the budget process, so there are no recommendations from the executive team on those requests, explained D’Angelo.
Smith moved to include $3,000 for a storage shed at the tennis club at Centre 2000. Council agreed.
Brennan said due to public complaints, he wanted $2,500 for repair of the plastic covering around the playground in Ballinafad and $10,000 for a new play surface at that playground to be added to the 2017 budget.
He proposed this money would come out of the cash in lieu of parkland reserve.
However, Sammut again said the town needs a plan for parks and recreation.
“To say we should ignore the immediate needs pending the strategic work being done, might be somewhat shortsighted,” said McCaughan.
The motion passed with Sammut opposed.
Other
Alls asked council to consider $12,000 for five years to purchase a large, visible sign for the community.
“Signage is disgusting here at the town hall,” he said.
Alls said he was impressed with the sign, but it is expensive. Sammut agreed signage in the town should improve but suggested the need for a strategy first.
Economic development officer Robyn Mulder said she has worked on sign solutions for some time. She said electronic signs are better
but the option that she is looking for has the option to transfer to LED in the future.
Council directed staff to come up with a sign strategy to bring back to a future meeting.
D’Angelo said based on the additions at the meeting, the preliminary tax increase is 2.53%, which would equal a $36 increase on a $500,000 home.
She added that the anticipated overall assessment growth is 0.91%.
Public input
The Nov. 23 meeting also gave the public an opportunity to address council with questions or concerns. A number of people spoke on a range of topics.
Members of the public asked for:
– overtime to be reported as a separate line item;
– the inclusion of dam repair costs in the five-year capital plan;
– council to experiment with a cheaper option for video recording;
– the town to start saving for a fire department tanker truck;
– more signage in multiple areas around the town;
– council to stop deferring infrastructure repairs;
– council to revisit the operational review and the savings that accompany it;
– a salary versus hourly pay review; and
– a dedicated full-time bylaw officer.
Council accepted the draft budget with amendments and directed staff to prepare a bylaw for adoption at the Dec. 7 special council meeting.
