Councillors will get a full breakdown of city fee charges at budget time in the fall, however some rates will not require annual council approval.
City fees were the subject of discussion Monday night in response to a previous council request to ensure fees are covered during the budget process. While council will receive an overview in the fall, some fees will be set by administration through council-approved policies.
According to chief financial officer Dean Screpnek, provincial rules require some municipal fees to be approved through a formal legislative process. However, putting all proposed fee changes in front of council would take up extra time that could be spent on other topics.
“The legislative process is quite involved,” Screpnek said in an interview. “You don’t need to go through a bylaw for all of the fees.”
Currently, the city’s various fees are governed by the master rates bylaw that requires council’s approval for every fee change. But as of Monday, user fees, tax enquiry fees, transit fares, administrative charges and cemetery rates will instead be set by city administration. Any changes to those fees will follow council approved policies that have yet to be written.
“Policy approval allows council to set its own philosophy,” Screpnek told council. “It would provide full transparency to the community about how these fees are set.”
Mayor Nolan Crouse raised concerns about current fee practices where some fees come into effect on Jan. 1, while others take effect in May.
Screpnek said the staggered approach to implementing fee changes at various points in the year would not change with the new policy.
Coun. Len Bracko asked if it was possible to set the fees years in advance to allow for council to have a more predictable revenue for a given budget year. City manager Bill Holtby cautioned against the idea, explaining fees are meant to recover some of the costs of operating programs and services in the city.
“If we were setting the rates three years in advance, we wouldn’t know our financial situation at that time,” Holtby said. “It’s probably easier for council to update them every year.”
Coun. Lorie Garritty later said the changes, which were unanimously approved, will help the councils of the future put together the budget with a clearer financial picture of where revenue is coming from.
“It just brings a little more information to the table. I think it’s designed to make it easier for council.”
