Well, there goes that salary increase from 2011.
St. Albert council released its initial budget figures Monday showing a proposed 2.9-per-cent increase in residential property taxes and a 9.5-per-cent increase in utility rates.
Interesting how the city budget increase often seems to mimic the average salary increase of the majority of property owners.
What kind of salary increase did most Albertans, and Canadians, receive in 2011?
Three significant companies did different projections and surveys. One, released this spring, by Culpepper Compensation Surveys and Services projected the average increase for
Canadians would be 2.83 per cent in 2011.
Two were released in September. Mercer Consulting Services reported that most Canadian companies expected to provide their employees with increases of about 2.9 per cent in 2011. The Hay Group survey of companies projected a 2.6-per-cent increase.
All three projected similar increases for 2012.
No matter which projection you look at, or take an average of the three, St. Albert taxpayers are going to come out the wrong end of the financial picture once again next year. Just take your salary increase and hand it over to the city to pay for services we can’t all afford or don’t really need.
Or, how do you feel if you were among the non-union city employees who received a one-per-cent increase this year? City municipal workers were given a more average three per cent.
Granted, this is just the budget proposal from administration and council will spend the next month going over the budget line by line, holding public consultations at a town hall meeting next Monday and receiving public input before each of the seven council sessions, before finalizing the budget on Dec. 19. So there could be some significant changes, up or down.
The proposed 2.9-per-cent increase would add $53 to the bill of a condo valued at $250,000, $85 on a home valued at $400,000 and $106 on a home appraised at $500,000.
Yes, yes we know many St. Albert residents are doctors or lawyers or company presidents so these figures don’t bother them. Their wage increases will be much higher.
And that’s fine. They earn the big bucks, they can afford their huge houses and the tax increases. But while those high earners aren’t going to feel a strong pinch by the projected tax increases, many other St. Albertans will.
And they’ve been feeling the pinch year after year after year. Yes, a 2.9-per-cent increase is reasonable, especially given the sometimes elitist type of services the city provides. But add in the utilities and the increase is not reasonable.
In its presentation of the Business Plan and Budget, 2012-2014, city administration said a significant part of the increase is due to increased costs to maintain the current levels of service.
Somehow the increased costs of garbage/organic disposal system — the high-end curbside system the city forced upon citizens this year — doesn’t seem like maintaining the current levels. It is increased services.
Which raises the question: if regular citizens, homeowners, have to cut back when their income can’t pay the bills, why can’t city administration operate under the same mentality?
What’s wrong with one year of holding the budget? Tell all the departments there will not be the routine annual increase, which seems to be budgeted in every year without any real evaluation. Or actually take a hard, in-depth, objective look at every department and make cuts where there’s waste. Lets face it, there’s always waste and in these economic times that has to be eliminated.
And, just as there was a minor surplus in this year’s budget, administration was already mentioning Monday in its presentation to council that there could be a surplus in the 2012 budget. So why budget for a surplus? Why not give taxpayers a well-deserved break, even if just for one year.
Probably the reason council voted 6-1 last December to not bring in efficiency audits that could probably have shown different departments how to run more efficiently and, thereby, save taxpayers money.
The good news is, after watching and listening to council Monday evening, one is left with the impression this council will aggressively attack this budget and do its best to keep the tax increases, for individuals and businesses, to a minimum.
