Brandon City Council to Re-evaluate Proposed 2012 Budget

Following a challenging number of weeks filled with an intense amount of public feedback, Brandon City Administration has concluded its analysis of the City of Brandon’s proposed 2012 Budget. Based on that analysis, Brandon City Council will re-evaluate the budget early next month.

“Following weeks of public comment amidst the holiday season and a subsequent Jan.6th discussion of Council, we asked administration to go back and drill right to the core of the budget and look for anything and everything that could help bring overall municipal property taxes in at a more publicly palatable level,” Brandon Mayor Shari Decter Hirst said. “Council now finds itself at a familiar fork in the road: will it go down the well-worn path where the usual moderate tax increase has predictable results or will we go down a path less travelled where real investment is made in the future of the City?”

Today, two scenarios – one that realizes $2.05 million in further budget reductions and the other that realizes $3 million in further budget reductions – were presented to Council.

“There are certain fundamental services that are the core responsibility of any city to provide its citizens – things like water and sewer, policing or fire protection,” said Decter Hirst. “If we protect those core services, we are left with limited options.”

“Currently, reducing the workforce of the City of Brandon is not an option,” stressed City Manager Scott Hildebrand. “Yet we continue to be committed to a comprehensive payroll strategy and other labour efficiencies, moving forward." “What has been presented to Council is the result of each department making extremely difficult sacrifices to services and capital. The two scenarios that have resulted are not pretty. They represent real reductions to real services and real growth in the City of Brandon.”

“Depending on what reductions Council wishes to move forward with, gone this year would be the annual allocation to the City’s affordable housing fund, the annual allocation to the diking and flood reserve, work on the recreation hub at Rideau Park and the aspirations of hosting the 2017 Canada Summer Games,” Hildebrand said. “Reduced will be the number of overtime hours afforded to protective services staff, the security presence at the Brandon Municipal Cemetery and the amount of snow clearing services. These are just a few of the numerous areas that would have to be sacrificed to bring in the type of budget that we’ve heard the public say it can withstand.”

Following a notice of motion at the Mon, Jan, 23rd, 2012, regular City Council meeting, Council will meet in early February to officially re-open debate on the proposed budget.

“If we take $2.05 million out of the budget, we bring the 2012 municipal mill rate increase in at zero per cent. If we take $3 million out of the budget, a further reduction of the mill rate would result. Property tax increases as a result of the changes in assessment would still apply,” Decter Hirst explained.

“Taxpayers in the City of Brandon need to know that we have listened to their concerns around the proposed 2012 budget. We will continue to listen to them as we consider these extremely hard decisions. As we go forward with our deliberations, I hope that the people of Brandon understand that for us to put those dollars back in their pockets, there will be real, tangible consequences that will affect not only the Brandon we know now, but the Brandon we hoped to see in the future.”

WHAT’S AT STAKE: COST-CUTTING SCENARIOS AND ASSOCIATED RISKS

*Please note that the following list is a sample of examples and should not be considered an exhaustive list.*

Salaries:

• Collective Agreements – budget landscape for collective agreements changes and impacts unionized City of Brandon employees in the community.
• Overtime – reducing the budgets for overtime (specifically for protective services like the Brandon Police Service) means response to non-emergency crimes (stolen bicycles, shed/garage break-ins, etc.) that require overtime will be impacted.

Public Impact:

• Canada Games bid cut – a legacy opportunity lost, a national reputation opportunity lost, an economic spinoffs of millions lost, the opportunity for development of elite athletes in the community lost.
• Deferral of Virtual City Hall initiative – citizens do not get the opportunity this year to use a new online platform to conduct day-to-day business with City Hall (i.e. paying water bills, parking tickets, etc.)
• Deferral of planned service upgrades to Planning Department – The Brandon Planning Department office continues to service customers using an archaic “cashbox” system instead of industry standard.
• Reduction to snow removal – Citizens will not be able to rely on the fact that a big dump of snow will be cleared away; it may be simply pushed aside into piles and left.
• Reduction to diking and flood reserve – Though the diking and flood reserve was emptied this year to deal with the high water event, the City would not begin building it back up this year.
• Reduction in spending for Police Department equipment – reduced budget for materials for Brandon Police Service personnel has the potential to impact the efficiency of service delivery/public safety.
• Cemetery security cut – No dedicated patrols for the Brandon Municipal Cemetery means more risk for vandalism-related crimes.

“Pay Now or Pay Later” :

• Annual investment for affordable housing cut – With this year’s deposit of cash into the affordable housing reserve eliminated, it hampers future affordable housing developments.
• Deferral of Rideau Park Recreation Hub – the community potentially waits two more years to see any work on the creation of a Recreation Hub in the East End.
• Deferral of payment into storm sewer reserve – this year’s payment into the “savings account” for the city’s storm sewer system does not happen, impacting the ability for the city to pay for scheduled maintenance and upgrades.
• Cuts to department maintenance- departments will have to undertake operational maintenance with a smaller complement of parts and supplies.
• Deferral of North Hill Dog Park – Residents will have to wait (and face the possibility of higher costs) to see an off-leash dog park created off Braecrest Drive.

Internal Impact:

• Cuts to training/development and conferences – employees will face a reality of less opportunity for the professional development and training needed to remain current in their professions.
• Cuts to advertising and subscriptions – Cutting the City’s ability to advertise and access relevant publications impacts its ability to communicate with the public.
• Cuts to travel costs – The City of Brandon’s leadership has reduced access to travel to conferences that can bring fresh, new ideas on how to deliver services to residents and taxpayers.

The following two charts are visual aids to demonstrate the two senarios proposed for cost cutting in the 2012 proposed budget.

The first chart shows scenario one (blue) with a $2.050 million dollar reduction and scenario two (red) with a $3.0 million dollar reduction.

The second chart shows the comparison of property tax impact based on the different scenarios.