Few goodies in an election year spending blueprint
It’s ‘balanced, affordable and progressive,’ Watson says
Mayor Jim Watson revealed a draft 2018 budget on Wednesday that would fully deliver his tax promise for the term before he asks voters to send him back to Ottawa City Hall in the next municipal election.
Watson called his budget plan “balanced, affordable and progressive.”
Under the proposed two-percent tax increase, the average residential landowner in the urban area would pay $76 more, while those in the rural area would pay $62 more, based on a property assessment of $404,000. The average commercial property with a $460,000 assessment would pay $163 more.
There would be increases in the water rate (four per cent), sewer rate (five per cent) and stormwater fee (five per cent).
It could be considered an election budget, since it’s the last one before the October 2018 vote, but there are hardly any new perks worthy of ribbon-cuttings.
Watson has been compelled to address infrastructure maintenance.
Councillors, particularly those outside the core urban area, have been asking for more attention put on road conditions. A municipal asset review earlier this year suggested the city needs to spend millions more each year to keep infrastructure up to snuff.
The draft budget pumps $12.6 million more into transportation infrastructure renewal, which should mean more road resurfacing projects and pothole fixes. In fact, the city wants to increase the annual pothole repair budget by $600,000, deciding to make permanent the one-time funding scrounged up earlier this year after a punishing winter.
There would also be more money to maintain recreation complexes, community centres and parks.
In all, the 2018 draft tax-supported budget proposes $108 million more in spending compared to 2017. It would cost $62.9 million alone just to maintain the current level of service, mostly because of salary hikes and inflationary increases on purchases.
The property tax increase would pour $32.1 million more into the city coffers. Added to that is the number of new tax assessments, projected to bring in another $24.4 million. The province would also provide money to run child care programs, while user fee increases would provide a bit more to offset the extra spending.
That means things like swimming lessons, marriage licences and business licences would increase by roughly two per cent in 2018. One standout is ice time fees for city arenas, which are poised to go up 5.6 per cent.
Social service agencies currently funded by the city would see more money in 2018 if council approves the budget. There would be an inflationary increase of three per cent for agencies, on top of a base funding increase, Watson said.
Some councillors are already sensing problems with the draft budget.
Both Diane Deans and Jeff Leiper are concerned about the absence of so-called “on-ramp” funding for social agencies that currently don’t receive municipal money. Expect several deputations at the community and protective services committee about social services funding, Deans said.
Leiper also questioned if the city is putting enough money into winter maintenance and road work. He said residents in his Kitchissippi ward have been asking for better snow clearing on sidewalks.
The city wants to put $2.3 million more into winter operations to help with the snow-clearing budget. It still wouldn’t be enough in a year like 2017, since the city is expecting a $10-million deficit in winter operations.
Watson defended the extra money for winter maintenance, pointing to a consultant’s recommended spending level for snow clearing.
“We feel the additional $2.3 million, bringing it up to $68.3 million, will suffice and obviously if we have another bad winter we’ll have to re-examine that next year,” Watson said.
The Ottawa Public Library tabled a draft 2018 budget that proposes about $1.5 million more in spending. For the first time in 10 years, the library is proposing to add a full-time-equivalent staff position, which would help administer a new scheduling system. The extra money would also pay for salary increases and the acquisition of more library materials.
Ottawa Public Health anticipates receiving $305,000 more from the province for program costs shared with the city; it anticipates receiving another $415,000 from the city for those programs and others that are 100 per cent covered by the city. The province traditionally pays 75 per cent for provincially mandated programs run by OPH.
The city’s outstanding long-term debt will be $2.27 billion at the end of 2017. It’s expected to be the same at the end of 2018, and although the servicing costs are within council’s limits, the debt level has continued to climb over the past 12 years as the city builds LRT. The outstanding long-term debt in 2005 was $477.4 million.
Since city manager Steve Kanellakos rejoined city hall in 2016, management has been on a mission to identify areas in the budget with pitfalls. He freed up money in the budget through staff reductions over the past two years.
“We have been systemically working our way through fixing all of the things that drive us into a deficit in any year,” according to city treasurer Marian Simulik, who said the draft budget is based on “solid research.”
Council’s committees and boards will challenge the budget estimates, invite feedback and send recommendations to council over the next five weeks.
The final council vote on the 2018 budget is scheduled for Dec. 13.