Yesterday, the City of Williams Lake released its' proposed 2011 Budget to the public for review prior to Thursday's meeting with the public on it
Today - I'd like to take an opportunity to review it in depth with my blog readers:
Firstly - I'd like to congratulate the City for making the document a lot more relevant by providing a range of information on the City's finances that hasn't been there before (at least - that I can remember)
Page 1 - Introduces summary of 2011 Budget including:
* Status Quo Budget with current City of Williams Lake services being maintained
* 3% tax increase (1% tax increase equals $100,000 in revenue to the City)
* In proposed 2011 Operations Budget, major expenses include:
1) Election expenses - $25,000 (I'm told that this is a normal level of expense to run a general civic election)
2) $200,000 from General Surplus Fund (Rainy Day Account) to new Infrastructure Reserve
3) $125,000 increase to RCMP Budget (wages, prisoners costs, accomodations)
4) 2% wage increase to City of WL Management Salaries effective April 1st, 2011 and a 3.5% wage increase to City employees effective July 1st, 2011
5) Station House Gallery move - $635,000. Pls Note - this is an increase of $135,000 from January 11th, 2011 when the entire budget was $500,000 which included a Towns for Tomorrow Grant of $375,000. City's share of this project will come from 2011 Gaming money and Community Works Funding. It will be interesting to hear the City's answer as to why in 59 days, the budget for this project increased by 27% or from $500,000 to $635,000 and what caused the increase (acquistion of property, etc) and if the City's share for this project will be halted at $260,000 or is there the potential for this to go up?
Page 2 - Review of City's Revenue/Expenses and Budgeting Cycle:
General Fund Revenue/Expenses in 2010 - $32,518,770
General Fund Revenue/Expenses in 2011 - $22,240,406
General Fund Revenue/Expenses in 2012 - $21,930,968
Budget Cycle - Review of Schedule from initial discussions on next Year budget Sept/Oct to following April/May when new Budget is adopted
Page 3 - Review of City Corporate Goals for 2008-2011 Council Term
Page 4 - Review of Property Assessments, 2010 vs 2011 - Assessments up 4.23%
Based upon this - a "mythical" business will see a increase of $54 while a "mythical" home will see a decrease of $14.25
Tolko - Lakeview Division will see an increase of 4.07% or $15,908 & West Fraser Plywood will also see an increase of $21,719 or 4.99% over 2010 taxes. The Co-Gen Plant will see a decrease of 2.53% or $21,960
Review of Tax Classes and Property Tax Distribution -
Residential - in 2007 - $36.74 per $100,000 while in 2011 - $38.08 per $100,000
Major Industry - in 2007 - $25.03 per $100,000 while in 2011 - $23.37 per $100,000
Business - in 2007 - $23.59 per $100,000 while in 2011 - $24.91 per $100,000
Page 5 - Review of Tax Increases (2001 - 2011)
2001 - 6.40% increase
2002 - 0.74% increase
2003 - 4.30% increase
2004 - 0.00% increase
2005 - 0.00% increase
2006 - 2.10% increase
2007 - 3.98% increase
2008 - 3.90% increase
2009 - 2.50% increase
2010 - 3.50% increase
2011 - 3.00% increase (proposed)
Pls remember - 2001/2002 Ivan Bonnell Council, 2003-2005 was Rick Gibson's Council, 2006-2008 was Scott Nelson's Council and 2009-2011 is Kerry Cook's Council. Also, property taxes have risen 30.42% in the last 10 years from 2001-2011. I have a funny feeling that wages haven't increased that much over 10 years
Page 6 - Review of Debt as at December 31st, 2010
General Fund Debt - $15,720,000
Water Fund Debt - $4,130,263
Sewer Fund Debt - $3,034,113
Grand Total - $22,884,376
Outstanding Balance - $19,387,852 with annual payments (principal/interest) of $1,921,877
Note - City of Quesnel Debt (Outstanding) stands at $9.803 million
Page 7 - Discussion on Reserves (Infrastructure, Equipment)
Page 8 - Discussion on Green Initiatives / Breakdown of 2011 Revenue/Expenses
2011 Revenue - 10.8 million is taxation, 2.7 million is services to other governments (CRD, School District, etc), Fees/Charges of $2.8 million, Grants from others - $3.5 million and Transfer from own reserves - $2.2 million for GRAND TOTAL of $22.0 million
2011 Expenses by Department:
Municipal Services - $4.5 million
RCMP - $3.5 million
Community Services - $3.4 million
Protective Services - $1.5 million
Corporate Services - $1.3 million
Financial Services - $1.2 million
Development Services - $1.1 million
Economic Development - $300,000
GRAND TOTAL - $16,700,000
Page 9 - Review of All City Funds (Combined Budgets) 2010 vs 2011
2010 - Total City Budget - $19,028,650
2011 - Total City Budget - $19,581,090 or increase of 2.8% (pls note - 2011 Inflation Rate of 2.4%)
Review of 2011 Capital Plan
Information Technology - $80,000
Fire Department - $131,500
Municipal Facilities - $679,910
Equipment - $200,000
Roads - $1,250,000
Storm Sewer Projects - $979,770
Parks - $270,000
Water Projects - $1,101,000
Cemetery - $50,000
Sewer Projects - $826,700
Solid Waste Capital - $25,000
WL Regional Airport Capital - $398,000
GRAND TOTAL - $6,126,800
Capital Projects funded as follows:
Grants - $1,744,950 or 28.48% of Capital Budget
Water Fees - $1,096,000 or 17.88% of Capital Budget
Sewer Fees - $968,700 or 15.81% of Capital Budget
Reserves - $619,570 or 10.11% of Capital Budget
2011 Community Works Fund - $522,200 or 8.52% of Capital Budget
2011 Gaming Revenue - $477,910 or 7.8% of Capital Budget
Airport (Self-Funded) - $398,000 or 6.49% of Capital Budget
General Taxation - $163,150 or 2.66% of Capital Budget
Debt (carried over from 2010) - $136,600 or 2.22% of Capital Budget
My Final Comments:
We'll probably have to halt taking on more long-term debt, after dealing with residents on Woodland Drive, for the foreseeable future until the debt is brought down to a more comfortable level. This given Williams Lake has about $10 million dollars more debt than Quesnel and Quesnel does enjoy a somewhat larger tax base than Williams Lake
Some of the capital budget items I question (I've asked the City CAO for clarification but no response yet from himself or his staff) including:
* Electronic Signs for Mackenzie Avenue
* Tree Farm for the Airport
* Move of Station House Gallery
* Boitanio Park (Bike Park) Irrigation System - should be funded out of CRD Recreation Service
* Sidewalk Machine (seems to be continuous issue and this has been funded in some fashion over last few years)
Otherwise - I'm looking forward to next Thursday's debate on the 2011 Budget
A reminder - you can see the actual budget document for yourself here and then send your comments on it (suggestions for revenue increases, expense decreases, service level increases or decreases, or other budget comments) to:
Pat Higgins (Director of Finance) by email at phiggins@williamslake.ca or phone her at (250) - 392-2311 or mail them to:
2011 Budget Comments
City of Williams Lake
450 Mart Street
Williams Lake, BC
V2G 1N3
or hand deliver your comments to the Finance Department at Williams Lake City Hall
7 comments:
I think you need to clarify your 79% increase with regard to the Station House relocation.
How does $135,000 on top of $500,00 equate to a 79% increase when the amount in the budget is 635,000?
Is that a typo?
Thank you for the comment
I've correct the blog post, but it should be pointed out that the Jan 11th, 2011 move budget for Station House Gallery was $500,000 which includes the provincial grant of $375,000 and the City portion of $125,000. Now the project is estimated at $635,000 with money broke down as follows:
$375,000 provincial grant (if approved)
$260,000 City share
Now - the question I will ask is:
Why in 59 days, the City share has gone up from $125,000 to $260,000 for this project
It's so funny that of the 8 projects the city is paying off, Scott Nelson borrowed the money for 5 of them. And raised taxes more than Cook or Gibson. He also gave the union 3-3-3 in the latest contract. And people think he was good with money.
So much for Scott's taxpayer protection plan
Whether you borrow the money or not is not as important as how the money is managed once it is borrowed.During Mr Nelson's tenure, in order to borrow the money went through an approval process set out under the Community Charter. A process that involved taxpayers input.
Once the money is borrowed or the budget is set out and provided to the Provincial government it must be adhered to.
For Mayor Cook to say the Mr Carruthers balanced a 20 million dollar budget makes no sense and is defence of what!! He is legally obligated to do so!!! But just because it balanced does not mean it was managed correctly. To use $300,000 from the operational budget to cover an overrun in a capital project is totally wrong. To take money out of operational to cover severance packages that should not have been paid is wrong. We failed to capitalize on a $27,000 grant but are now taking $25,000 out of the City budget to cover an Economic development study. How many things were/are not covered because of these decisions. In our personal lives what would happen if we all took money out of our groceries funds to pay for "nights out on the town" is that proper money management? No it isn't. But in the end it all balances...just tell that to the kids when they go hungry. I say this as an example of why what is happening in not appropriate and is no ways meant to sensationalize.
Get passed the personalities people. I am not saying Mr Carruthers is a bad guy..that is not the case, what I am noticing is that there is some issues with how the City is being managed. Mayor Cook as the leader of our community should stop taking things at face value. There are too many examples lately that have popped up. This is not a popularity contest and who cares about Mr.Nelson, Kerry Cook and Mr Carruthers personalities. What I care about is where my tax dollars are going. Right now I am extremely concerned by what is happening. The City of Williams Lake could find itself in serious trouble if a Municipal auditor come in and reviewed some of these issues (to clarify I talking about a Municipal auditor not a financial auditor because as Mayor Cook said "it all balanced").
Also I am also sickened that Mr Forseth's blog page is being used to take personal shots at him and to start rallying political campaigns.
These pages are a great way to open dialogue about issues. It shouldn't be used to for negative purposes. I would recommend to Mr Forseth that anyone who does not put their name to a post should not have it go live.
I, like a previous blogger was not able to get my name accepted in the post process but will gladly put it here at the end of my comments.
Sincerely - S.Claussen
Please note as well with regard to the Station House relocation - that there is $60,000+ that the City has been holding for the Station House for quite some time.
So now you can knock it down another $60,000.
$200,000. remains.
Not much to save and breathe new life into the most important heritage building we have left is it?
Thanks for your comments...
Anonymous at 5:03pm...
It is true that Station House Gallery has received $60,000 but I would want to hear clarification that they are able to use that money for the possible move of the Station House Gallery
Finally - if you move the Station House Gallery to another place, I would suggest that you no longer retain its "heritage" as it has been moved from the very place that it got its heritage from.
Also - I'm still not convinced that simply moving a building is akin to "breathing new life into it" - case in point - the local Museum got $775,000 in upgrades yet it hasn't exactly got a big upgrade in foot traffic and I do go by the Museum at least 1-2 times per day. Just my personal take on it
SBF
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