Moment with the Mayor: 2015 Budget Highlights

Hi Neighbours:

One of the changes Council has implemented is the earlier development of the budget. The goal of Council is to approve the budget in principle by the beginning of December. The budget will receive official passing after we receive our information from the Saskatchewan Assessment Management Agency (SAMA), a provincial board.

Here are some highlights of the draft budget so far as presented at our Public Consultations:

• We expect salaries to increase for two reasons: union negotiations and our senior administrators are not making market salaries. For more than a year we have been looking for a new Director of Community Services without success, due mostly to the fact that our lowest counter offer is still below the expected wage or what the candidates are being offered in their current position. When compared to other municipalities across the province we are low.

• We owe more than $10 million for the Water Tower, Haubrich Water Treatment Plant and the E-K Water Line. Payments consume 7.3% of Kindersley’s revenue. As a note, the Province spends 2.3% to service its debt and expects us to take on debt to fund a lagoon and other projects.

• Big decreases in spending for 2015 include: road and sidewalk maintenance, and infrastructure repair and improvements (last year, Rutley Cres was a big fix); parks, and some other areas for lesser amounts.

• Capital projects underway include the Fire Hall, which we expect to begin construction this year, and the regional landfill. Funds set aside for those projects amounts to $750,000.

• The West Central Events Centre is around 25 years old and is entering a phase of its life cycle in which it needs more maintenance as it is beginning to show its age. As a result, we will be spending money to address a variety of issues.

• Construction on a new park is expected to begin in 2015 in the green space between the Hahn Cres. and Coleman Cres. It is currently configured to include play structures and a new soccer pitch.

• Overall, we expect tax increases to be around the rate of inflation.

As part of the budget process, two public consultations were held - one in the afternoon and one in the evening. There were no public submissions. I encourage everyone to also check out the new interactive budget website that has been created to educate the public on how taxes are spent and get input in our budget planning. It can be found here.

The budget will be passed in principle December 8^th.

Please write or phone if you would like me to discuss a particular topic. If you have any questions or comments, drop me a line at the town office or email me at mayorenns-wind@kindersley.ca. You can also check out my blog at http://mayorjohn.blogspot.ca/. I appreciate your feedback.