Some 2015 Budget Items

Extra revenues collected this year are primarily designated towards reserves. We are anticipating a number of significant capital items including: pool, waste water lagoon, fire hall, ladder truck for the fire department, landfill, infrastructure deficit, water plant upgrades, and more. As well, we expect to be spending more than $1 million updating, repairing, maintaining, and replacing parts of the WCEC.

Utility Reserves have been reduced more than $1 million the last three years. The new water rates are to build up the reserves to around $2 million for anticipated repairs, maintenance, and replacements. Some of the anticipated items include: water and sewer main replacements, a new waste water lagoon, raw water lines, and lift station replacements. We also have to pay our share for the EK Water line such as pump repairs and replacements and more.

The Utility Reserve is expected to increase quicker than anticipated this year. About $1.36 million is expected to be collected. Reserves from residential revenue expected is about $690,000 and commercial revenue is around $675,000.

The Town has a capital trust fund which is kind of like a big savings account that pays for capital items such as trucks, landfill trailer, generators, fire hall land, etc. We try to keep it at $1.7 million but it floats a little depending on our ability to replenish the fund and the rate of withdrawal.

Where do we get our inflation rate indicator? It is the Consumer Price Index provided by StatsCan for Saskatchewan.

Here is the table of the Saskatchewan CPI:

Consumer Price Index, by province(Saskatchewan)
	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014
	2002=100
Sask.
All-items	118.7	122.0	123.9	125.7	128.7
Food	123.1	128.2	131.2	134.0	138.1
Shelter	140.4	143.9	146.7	149.4	154.4
Household operations, furnishings and equipment	104.2	105.6	107.3	108.7	110.5
Clothing and footwear	96.2	95.1	95.8	96.5	97.1
Transportation	110.3	116.9	119.0	119.9	122.4
Health and personal care	113.5	113.7	115.2	116.3	117.9
Recreation, education and reading	104.7	105.9	106.4	107.3	109.2
Alcoholic beverages and tobacco products	139.2	142.1	143.5	150.8	158.4
Special aggregates
All-items excluding food	117.7	120.7	122.5	124.1	126.9
All-items excluding energy	117.4	119.8	122.0	124.0	126.8
	% change from previous year
All-items	1.4	2.8	1.6	1.5	2.4
Food	0.7	4.1	2.3	2.1	3.1
Shelter	0.8	2.5	1.9	1.8	3.3
Household operations, furnishings and equipment	0.4	1.3	1.6	1.3	1.7
Clothing and footwear	0.0	-1.1	0.7	0.7	0.6
Transportation	3.2	6.0	1.8	0.8	2.1
Health and personal care	1.4	0.2	1.3	1.0	1.4
Recreation, education and reading	0.8	1.1	0.5	0.8	1.8
Alcoholic beverages and tobacco products	5.3	2.1	1.0	5.1	5.0
Special aggregates
All-items excluding food	1.4	2.5	1.5	1.3	2.3
All-items excluding energy	1.3	2.0	1.8	1.6	2.3
Note: Annual average indexes are obtained by averaging the indexes for the 12 months of the calendar year. Source: Statistics Canada, CANSIM, table326-0021 and Catalogue nos. 62-001-X and 62-010-X. Last modified: 2015-01-23.

2015 Budget Clarification

One of the items passed at the last Council meeting was a bylaw to discontinue early payment incentives. Here are a couple of facts to help clarify what is happening:

• 2015 is the last year the incentive applies;
• the incentive is worth 4% of your municipal property taxes if they are paid before June 30, 2015;
• the incentives costs the Town approximately $195,000;
• incentives to pay the education portion of your property early was discontinued two years ago;
• penalties are in place for late payment;
• the incentive is not available starting in 2016.

I hope this helps.

2015 Budget

Last night Council adopted a new budget. For the average house the property tax increase is the rate of inflation plus 0.5% for a total of around 3%. Your Council has now delivered three budgets with two around inflation and one at 5.5%. Kindersley has consistently seen lower property tax increases compared to similar size municipalities. Here is a table outlining other community property tax increases.Lloydminster's increase is 10.4% and Prince Albert's is 2.57%.

City	Percent Tax Increase
Estevan	7.00%
Humboldt	5.00%
Kindersley	~3.00%
Lloydminster	10.40%
Martensville	3.51%
Meadow Lake	3.00%
Melfort	4.90%
Melville	6.00%
Moose Jaw	5.13%
North Battleford	4.50%
Prince Albert	2.57%
Regina	3.90%
Saskatoon	5.34%
Swift Current	3.21%
Warman	3.51%
Weyburn	5.00%
Yorkton	6.00%

 Changes from our budget in principle in November is the purchase/lease of a new streetsweeper; I'm not aware of the delivery date. The new street sweeper is due to some projects coming in under budget.

We expect reserves to be up to $7 million which is an increase of about $4.5 million. I wish we could have put more into future projects such as the pool, fire hall and ladder truck, and utility reserve.

About $573,000 is being invested into the WCEC this coming year. The WCEC is in it's peak maintenance period of its life cycle due to its age. 

Investments this year include: storage shed, lighting upgrades, water softener/RO system, fire suppression replacements, ice rink controller, rink boilers, scissor lifts and a dehumidifier. Something you will see, assuming the contractor is available before the season starts, is the completion of the floor polishing in the lobby; this project will be an extra $50,000 or so. Next year we anticipate replacing the ice plant for a cost of more than $700,000.

The budget process is difficult, Administration, specifically Audrey and Theresa, have gone through the budget countless times. Thank you to Audrey and Theresa and Bernie for your hard work. 

Council will begin work in the near future on the 2016 budget through our Special Planning Agenda (SPA) to discuss our priorities and goals.

Moment with the Mayor: 2015 Budget Highlights

Hi Neighbours:

During our Council meeting on May 11^th we will be passing our 2015 budget. Council passed a ‘Budget in Principle’ back in November but we were unable to finalize it until we received the final property assessment numbers from the Province. We are still looking at a tax increase at 3% or less (the increase the average house would receive). Here are some highlights of the proposed budget that is still subject to change:

·         On the horizon are some much-needed capital investments, so money is being put into reserve for the fire hall, pool, and sewage lagoon (the final numbers were being prepared as I wrote this column).

·         We are investing in road and watermain infrastructure maintenance, repair, and replacement (about $1.7 million).

·         About $1.8 million of work is being done to upgrade the Danielson lift station, with about $1.5 million of it paid by the developers.

·         The Town Hall will be receiving some deferred repairs on the roof and floors.

·         A new street sweeper is needed and Administration is looking at purchasing one for between $200,000 - $250,000 or leasing a new one.

·         $500,000 is designated for the new landfill ($250,000 of it from last year’s reserve)

·         The WCEC is eating up a lot of money this year, it is about 25 years old and in a peak period for maintenance:

     ·         $200,000 for new boilers;

     ·         $69,000 for a new ice rink controller; and

     ·         $74,000 for new fire suppression sprinklers (all of which are funded through existing reserves, grants, and/or the Town’s Capital Trust Fund)

     ·         Dehumidifier for $80,000,

     ·         Lighting upgrades for $74,000.

·         Connecting Brookhollow to the Town’s watermain system requires $165,000.

·         Several vacant positions, including the Director of Community Services, have been budgeted for.

·         This summer you will see a number of fire hydrants replaced. This will be a 5 year project at $50,000 per year.

·         RCMP contract fees are up almost 11% to $333,828.

We are still awaiting word as to whether any of our three Build Canada Fund applications (regional landfill, lagoon, and watermain replacements) will be approved.

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.

SAMA 2015 AGM

Today was SAMA's, SK Assessment Management Agency, AGM. This past December SUMA appointed me to SAMA's advisory council representing municipalities under 30,000. Here are some of the things I learned today.

SAMA Convention. April 15, 2015

• the purpose of assessments are to provide revenue for municipalities to preserve local autonomy;
• assessments developed $1.73 billion in revenue for municipalities and education;
• assessed property in Saskatchewan totals $160 billion;
• SAMA has reduced staffing levels by more than half since the 2005-2008 revaluation cycle;
• SAMA want to revalue all property every 4 years;
• some municipalities have not been revalued since 1989;
• observation: SAMA looks at revenue significantly different than I do;
• SAMA goal for 2018 is to complete 100,000 property reviews per year;
• SMB is having challenges keeping up with appeals;

Some Trends (all calculations are preliminary)

• property value increases range from 11% for mine resource production equipment to 120% for arable agriculture land (tentative);
• residential across the province is up 20%;
• oil and gas is up 15%;
• elevators are up 25%;

Should you go to SAMA's site you can see the assessed value of your property.

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.

Financial Tools Infrastructure

Municipalities across the province are facing fiscal challenges keeping abreast with growth. Good and sustainable decision making requires prudent and discerning planning. We can endeavour to make the best decision we can based on the best data and plans we collect and develop; however, these decisions and plans mean nothing if the they are unable to be implemented.

To address this issue I wrote this resolution for Council's consideration.

Resolution to Address the Lack of Financial Tools Municipalities Have to Address Infrastructure Needs

Whereas Kindersley is a growing community with a growing commercial, industrial, retail, and residential base; and

Whereas the Town of Kindersley, having completed a number of assessments and plans including: infrastructure capacity assessment, long term financial plan, asset management, traffic study, landfill site assessment, and other planning tools like the new strategic plan, organizational effectiveness plan, culture and economic development plan, arts and recreation needs and operational assessment, as well as a new Official Community Plan and accompanying zoning by-laws; and

Whereas, based on the above assessments and plans, Kindersley’s growth may be compromised due to a lack of financial resources to sustainably support growth; and

Whereas the Town of Kindersley has identified as priority needs a new landfill site, a new sewage lagoon or treatment facility, new arts and recreation facilities to replace facilities almost 40 years old or facilities deemed unsafe or not cost effective and directed to be demolished; and

Whereas 130 urban municipalities are unable to accept or plan for new residents and new business because of a lack of resources to develop new infrastructure; and

Whereas infrastructure current funding available through the Build Canada Fund and matching funding from the Province of Saskatchewan are inadequate to address the immediate infrastructure needs of growing municipalities and regions; and

Whereas municipalities, especially towns, have limited revenue generating means; and

Whereas infrastructure funding by the federal and provincial governments are below the historical level in relation to GDP when most infrastructure was built.

Now therefore be it resolved that the Council of the Town of Kindersley strongly encourages the Government of the Province of Saskatchewan to amend current legislation and regulations to allow increased flexibility for borrowing monies to develop infrastructure. Items to amend include:

·         Increasing the amortization period for repayment;

·         Different considerations, or thresholds, for borrowing limits between those infrastructures that generate revenue and those that don’t;

·         Separating from municipal debt limit those infrastructures, such as utilities, that are self-sustaining; and

·         Provide approvals for increased debt limits for those municipalities who have developed asset management plans, infrastructure capacity plans, and long term financial plans;

And further be it resolved that the Government of the Province of Saskatchewan make such amends with all reasonable haste to facilitate ongoing and sustainable growth and competitiveness.

Proposed Resolution Regarding Infrastructure Borrowing

The resolution below is an attempt to have the provincial government work towards a solution so we can address our infrastructure challenges. The Town has been doing a lot of work to understand our challenges and develop a strategy to effectively and efficiently address these challenges. However, now we are at the point where we have insufficient resources to act effectively and efficiently. Sustainability includes have the resources to implement good decision based on sound strategies.

Resolution to Address the Lack of Financial Tools Municipalities Have to Address Infrastructure Needs

Whereas Kindersley is a growing community with a growing commercial, industrial, retail, and residential base; and

Whereas the Town of Kindersley, having completed a number of assessments and plans including: infrastructure capacity assessment, long term financial plan, asset management, traffic study, landfill site assessment, and other planning tools like the new strategic plan, organizational effectiveness plan, culture and economic development plan, arts and recreation needs and operational assessment, as well as a new Official Community Plan and accompanying zoning by-laws; and

Whereas, based on the above assessments and plans, Kindersley’s growth may be compromised due to a lack of financial resources to sustainably support growth; and

Whereas the Town of Kindersley has identified as priority needs a new landfill site, a new sewage lagoon or treatment facility, new arts and recreation facilities to replace facilities almost 40 years old or facilities deemed unsafe or not cost effective directed to be demolished; and

Whereas 130 urban municipalities are unable to accept or plan for new residents and new business because of a lack of resources to develop new infrastructure; and

Whereas infrastructure current funding available through the Build Canada Fund and matching funding from the Province of Saskatchewan are inadequate to address the immediate infrastructure needs of growing municipalities and regions; and

Whereas municipalities, especially towns, have limited revenue generating means; and

Whereas infrastructure funding by the federal and provincial governments are below the historical level in relation to GDP when most infrastructure was built; and

Now therefore be it resolved that the Council of the Town of Kindersley strongly encourages the Government of the Province of Saskatchewan to amend current legislation and regulations to allow increased flexibility for borrowing monies to develop infrastructure. Items to amend include:

     ·         Increasing the amortization period for repayment;

     ·         Different considerations, or thresholds, for borrowing limits between those infrastructures that generate revenue and those that don’t;

     ·         Separating from municipal debt limit those infrastructures, such as utilities, that are self-sustaining; and

     ·         Provide approvals for increased debt limits for those municipalities who have developed asset management plans, infrastructure capacity plans, and long term financial plans;

And further be it resolve that the Government of the Province of Saskatchewan make such amends with all reasonable haste to facilitate ongoing and sustainable growth and competitiveness.