The question of taxes remains in the air

On the operations side, the Committee was presented with a laundry list of areas where the City is losing money. The greatest is $225,000 per month in gaming revenues with the closure of the Treasure Cove Casino, $580,000 per month in the closure of Civic facilities. That is offset by part-time workers not being scheduled to the tune of $165,000. Not charging for off-street parking is costing the City $160,000 per month and the City’s investments are anticipated to drop by $100,000 per month.

However, that has been offset by the cancellation of travel for $72,670, a decrease in fuel consumption of $100,000 and a hiring freeze of seasonal and vacancies for savings of $142,434 per month. All of the calculations from the Finance Department show monthly losses of $912,479.

There was consensus on the Committee recommending the deferral of nearly $25 million in capital projects. The largest is $8.5 million for upgrades to the Aquatics Centre, $1.8 million for upgrades to the 18th Avenue City Yards and $925,000 for improvements to the Heritage River Trail system.

So the work of Council will now be TO decide the proposed tax hike. There were some, like Councillor Brian Skakun and Councillor Kyle Sampson who want it closer to zero than 2.2 percent, while Councillor Frank Everitt wants it around two percent.

That discussion will take place at the April 27th regular Council meetings and however many Council meetings subsequent to that.

The City has to have a balanced budget to the Province by May 15th.

by Cheryl Jahn

The question of taxes remains in the air

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