City council once again goes to their favourite ATM, the civic taxpayer

You can’t help but think of the television commercial, “hands in your pockets.” or maybe the Rick Mercer interpretation of it as appropriate right about now!

It’s civic budget time once again and our elected officials have decided that it’s the duty of the taxpayers of Prince Rupert to pony up another 4% on the tax bill this year, to help bring in an additional 360,000 dollars more, that the city says that it needs for all of its expenses.

The preliminary budget was presented to council on Monday night and a public session was scheduled for Wednesday night for public feedback, though one wonders if only two days is enough notice for such an important process. For the most part few would have known about the city’s intentions, until reading the paper on Wednesday night.

At Monday’s meeting, city staff advised that they and council had gone over the budget line by line, looking for ways to save money and increase revenues. What those possibilities might have been however haven’t been made public, which is a shame as taxpayers would no doubt enjoy a bit of background on those important decisions, that may or may not have been made before seeking to hit up the cash machine one more time.

Information such as whether cutbacks to services were considered and what they may have been, seem to be limited to those that sat around the preliminary budget table. If there were any discussions about revenue generation ideas, possible layoffs, service cuts or reductions, or even more drastic changes to municipal government, the public wasn’t involved in that process it seems.

With Prince Rupert already one of the most highly taxed municipalities in the province, an additional four percent isn’t going to be a popular thing to be bringing to the table. Even, if the need for infrastructure repairs such as roads, sewers and such is about as obvious as it’s ever been in the city.

While infrastructure has been allowed to decline over the years due to financial troubles, the sense of business as usual seemed to carry on over at City Hall. What sometimes frustrates the local residents is that it just seems that sometimes, the decisions being made are straying from what the average taxpayer may wish to see from its civic government.

Despite some high profile spending issues over the last few years, the city it seems continues to spend as though the supply of funding is limitless.

There was the hiring of consultants for official plans and studies which while no doubt important, may have been a luxury for a city in a financial struggle.

There was the 23 million dollar purchase in 2005, of the Monarch cable operation across the Northwest by CityWest, it is a purchase that still resonates in the city. CityWest which while separated from city operations, is we would imagine, still somehow part of the city structure in some capacity.

The money for the cablevision purchase had to come from somewhere, as does the money for the upgrades and services in communities further down Highway 16. Considering the proliferation of satellite dishes in the area, there are more than a few residents that wonder if the city should really be in the cable TV industry at all.

Has that purchase and other changes at CityWest, resulted in the past practice of a dividend being returned to the city been reduced or changed? Has spending at CityWest, resulted in the city requiring more money from taxpayers? If so, perhaps a form of consultation with the taxpayers, explaining the impact of the changes, might have been proper before those changes were implemented.

From the seemingly never ending Skeena Cel boondoggle, which has put the city behind the eight ball from the get go, through the unexpected (though surely one would hope anticipated) airport operations and ferry bill due to Hawkair’s bankruptcy proceedings, to the latest funding requirements over at Regional District including a possible severance payout, it would seem that the taxpayers are going to be providing the funding for decisions that didn’t quite work out as planned.

They are all issues which might have contributed to the current need for more taxpayer monies, and certainly would provide for a lively public debate before we make yet another increased payment when our tax bills come due in July.

The Wednesday Daily News had full details in a front page story on the taxation plans of the city, the last line of which is the most telling; “other than the port properties, the city has little industry”

With little to show in the way of industrial development, the onus for taxation continues to fall on the tax base of the property owner.

They are a segment of the city, which surely must be finding it harder and harder to reach into their pockets, without a bit of transparency as to where the money is destined.

CITY SPENDING MORE TO BE READY FOR GROWTH: POND
By Leanne Ritchie
The Daily News
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Page One

The city will be asking the taxpayers for $360,000 more this year, compared to last year. That represents a three to four per cent increase in cash generated through taxes compared to 2006.
On Monday night, city staff presented the preliminary budget for council and tonight at 7 p.m., there will be a public meeting at city hall for members of the public to review and comment upon the financial document.

Jim Bruce, the city’s acting chief financial officer, said city staff and council have gone through the budget line by line, looking for ways to save money and increase revenues.

“At this point, the general revenue from taxpayers is just over $11 million and we will need approximately $360,000 more to accommodate all of the expenses that we have in front of us,” said Bruce.

“The other major portion of this budget is the capital infrastructure plans. As council knows, we have not put a lot of money into capital infrastructure over the last several years ... and we have seen our infrastructure deteriorating.”

Infrastructure includes things like roads, sewer, the water system and sidewalks.

Overall, Bruce described it as “a fairly conservative budget”, that included a some cutbacks to the amount of money being transferred to reserves (money set aside for future improvements) in order to invest in capital projects now.

The city began rebuilding its reserve funds last year, which were spent when the city anticipated getting taxes from Skeena Cellulose that it never ended up receiving.
Prince Rupert Mayor Herb Pond described it as “a rebuilding budget.”

“For those of us who have sat around this table, we went through extreme cuts to be able to survive to this point when we see our economy beginning to recover,” he said. “You need to figure out when is the strategic time to make that investment in yourself that prepares for growth and allows you to capitalize on growth. In my opinion, the time is now to begin rebuilding our infrastructure.”

However, Bruce noted that the city is somewhat limited in where it is able to get that extra money.

For example, there are caps on the taxes charged to port properties set by the province and other than the port properties, the city has little industry.