On Monday, June 27^th 2016, City Council considered our 2017 operating budget and gave direction to City Administration for developing next year’s budget. The direction that City Council gave was to create a budget with a 1.5% tax increase, and a tax rebate for the final 1.5% so that it will be a 0% property tax increase in 2017. 

We used a variety of tools at our disposal, including the use of one time reserves to achieve a 0.0% tax increase. But, it does include a small amount of service reduction across the city. City staff will work on minimizing the impacts of those service reductions and will come back to City Council in November with what cuts are in place at Budget Finalization.

I heard from many people in response to my last budget email asking for your input. I will use that input to share with administration as they look for budget savings across the various departments. I truly appreciate the thought and consideration that so many people gave to me. A majority of people were interested in seeing their taxes be as low as possible, but were concerned about the impacts on service. There was generally a strong desire to see services maintained across the city. I am collating that information now and will be using it in a submission to city staff to help direct them in developing the city budget.

Police and Fire: Many residents believe they should not be exempt from budget cuts.

Council Members: Many residents believe Council salary should be decreased. Please note that Council salary is determined by a Citizen Committee.

City Staff: It’s about half and half between those who believe this budget should be maintained or decreased.

Transit: It’s about half and half between those who believe this budget should be maintained or increased.

Waste: Many believe the budget for waste collection should be decreased – to stop or postpone the Green Cart Program or to make collection bi-weekly for all carts.

Parks: Many residents expressed that they would volunteer to be the caretaker of their local park.

Thanks and I will keep you informed as we move forward with developing next year’s budget.

Sincerely,
Brian

Budget Graph.pdf