Cop arbitration adds to Region’s $ 2.2M deficit
ALLAN BENNER
An arbitrated settlement for Niagara Regional Police officers is one of several unanticipated costs contributing to an anticipated $ 2.2- million regional budget shortfall this year.
While updating Niagara’s corporate services committee on the municipality’s budget for the second quarter of 2017, deputy treasurer Helen Chamberlain said “levy- supported results are forecasting an estimated $ 2.2- million deficit.”
That’s only about 0.3 per cent of the total $ 750 million of tax supported expenditures, “which is a very small variance.”
The police board is taking steps to mitigate its contribution to the overall levy shortfall by dealing with its own $ 3.1- million deficit forecast, after a new contract for police officers was settled through arbitration earlier this year.
“It concerns me that the ruling of the arbitrators continually say that the argument for ability to pay is not relevant,” St. Catharines Coun. Bruce Timms said. “Here we have a clear problem — a $ 3- million inability to pay.”
Chief administrative officer Carmen D’Angelo said he and acting corporate services commissioner Jason Burgess will meet with NRP administration on Friday to discuss mitigation strategies.
The Region’s court services department also contributed to the forecast deficit, falling short of providing $ 830,000 in expected income garnered primarily through fine payments.
“We’re still getting net revenue from the courts, but it’s about half of what was anticipated,” Chamberlain said.
Meanwhile, emergency repairs were needed for water and sewer system equipment, while water sales have decreased as a result of the very wet season, has led to a $ 3.5- million deficit in the region’s water and sewer budget.
Despite the shortfalls, Chamberlain said other regional departments are anticipating significant surpluses this year, partially offsetting the deficit.
She said waste management, for instance, is expecting a $ 5.1- million surplus by year’s end. And with four months left in the year, Chamberlain said regional management is looking for o p p o r t u n i - ties to mitigate that shortfall, through strategies including leaving staff vacancies unfilled, deferring or eliminating consulting costs, and deferring waterfront grant programs.
Through those strategies “we’re able to provide some mitigation strategies for some of those large pressures that we anticipated,” Chamberlain said.
Niagara- on- the- Lake Coun. Gary Burroughs urged regional staff to develop more realistic projections when developing the 2018 budget.
“Let’s try and be realistic in all the categories including the police budget. Hopefully, it will all be resolved by then and we will know the real numbers,” he said.
Port Colborne Coun. David Barrick, who led the region’s 2017 budget deliberations, pointed out that Niagara “has won awards for budget accuracy” in past years. Burgess agreed. “The track record, at least before I got here, was a very good one of us meeting or exceeding budget,” he said.
“But I do take your comments seriously, Coun. Burroughs, that increased accuracy and addressing potentially some of the risk factors in some of the forecasts need to be highlighted better to council.”
ABenner@ postmedia. com Twitter: @ abenner1 LAURA BARTON
After much discussion, Port Colborne will not be getting a second fire hall for its rural areas.
The issue came before city councillors and the mayor again last week. It first came before council last September after a Fire Underwriters survey suggested the need for an additional hall, and it has been back a few times since then.
“I explained to ( council) that given the situation and lack of ( volunteer) interest … that my recommendation was we not move forward with it at this time,” Tom Cartwright, Port Colborne Fire and Emergency Services chief, said.
He said council has committed to the current response time — on average 12 minutes to get from the main fire hall’s Killaly Street West location to rural areas such as Sherkston. He explained that council committing to that time means it has been deemed “acceptable.”
He said over the years, he’s never heard a complaint from anyone in a rural area about response times, and to his knowledge council hasn’t either.
One of the main reasons for the rural fire hall being nixed was that lack of volunteer interest. Cartwright said only six people expressed interest in becoming volunteer firefighters to man that hall. After testing and vetting processes, that number may have even been smaller if the volunteers didn’t meet the criteria.
“Right now, my recommendation is you can’t move forward with just six names,” he said. “I don’t think that’s even nearly enough to be able to consider trying to spend the money to build the station, put a truck in the station and then not have the people to man that station.”
Part of the original hang up with the rural fire hall had been that Cartwright had estimated a new hall would cost $ 1.6 million, which included land and equipment. It had been suggested the department rent a space rather of building a new one, and Cartwright had found a property owner who was willing to enter into a long- term lease. He said he’s not sure how much that would have saved since the conversations never moved beyond that initial stage.
Although one of the recommendations in Cartwright’s report that came before council Monday had been to continue to explore the possibility of a rural fire hall and encouraging more people to volunteer, but council has decided to stick with the one hall.
The department will also enter into discussions with Fort Erie’s fire department in regards to automatic aid.
“In addition to that, I’ve recommended that council set up a major capital reserve fund for future either expansion in the fire department and/ or other major capital cost that are coming to them in the next four to five years,” he said.
He said he was working on that report to bring to council at a future meeting. It will touch on things such as what equipment might need replacing in the next several years.
He said the department currently pays about $ 307,000 for the fire hall and it will be paid off next year. His recommendation, which will also be included in the next report, is all or some of that payment continue to be put in a reserve fund to help offset future costs, whether that means building a new hall or just making appropriate upgrades in the current facilities. lbarton@ postmedia. com Twitter: @ LBartonTribune