Council is set to discuss future possibilities for whittling down next year's proposed tax increases in a meeting on Tuesday.
A budget and tax increase meeting is unusual in the summer months, said Coun. Ken MacKay, and hasn’t happened in the five years he has been on council. With the big changes council is asking administration to make with tax proposals and inflation taking a bite out of the bottom line, council will give administration more information on what types of cuts they want to see in the fall budget.
Earlier this year council eyed a tax increase of 7.2 per cent in 2023, 6.2 per cent in 2024, and 3.9 per cent in 2025 to keep service levels for the city at status quo.
Coun. Sheena Hughes said if the city stays on track with earlier proposed tax increases, residents will see overall 23-per-cent tax increase over the four-year term of this council.
But in June council asked the city to bring options to the table that would bring down those increases to three to five per cent for 2023 during this fall's budget deliberations.
MacKay said the meeting on July 12 will allow council to give feedback to administration on how to proceed with preparing the budget, adding that the discussion will ensure administration is putting in time and effort to create a budget council is comfortable working with.
Parts or all of the meeting may be in camera, and MacKay said this is because council could be contemplating service cuts that may impact jobs and administration.
Hughes said every per cent decrease in tax will impact the operations of the city by $1.2 million — with a four-per-cent tax decrease on the table for next year, that would mean a $4.8-million cut from the operating budget. Some 90 per cent of the operating budget funds staff positions.
Hughes said she doesn’t like going in camera unless absolutely necessary, and when the issues come up there will be a conversation justifying why it needs to happen behind closed doors.
Coun. Shelley Birmanski said she doesn’t support dollar discussions in camera at all, adding she doesn’t see a reason to go in camera when discussing tax dollars and spending.
Coun. Mike Killick said the in-camera portion will allow for council to discuss the pros and cons of a suggested item in a casual way without making a final decision.
Coun. Natalie Joly and Coun. Wes Brodhead could not be reached by The Gazette's press deadline on Tuesday. Mayor Cathy Heron was not available for an interview.
The meeting is slated for 1 p.m. on Tuesday, July 12 in the Douglas Cardinal Boardroom.
