3% city tax hike guideline

3.6% maximum hike for police budget

City council’s last budget of this four-year term could look a lot like this year’s budget.

On Monday, council will consider telling staff to develop a 2014 budget with a 3% all-inclusive (municipal, education and sewer surcharge) property tax increase for a typical homeowner.

It’s the same tax-increase guideline council gave to staff for the development of this year’s budget.

A 3% all-inclusive property tax increase for a typical homeowner would generate $5.2 million more in revenue for the city, city staff state in a report that goes to budget committee.

For an average taxpayer with a home assessed at $212,900 in 2014 a 3% increase would add an estimated $100 to the tax bill, staff state.

A portion of that increase will be used to finance additional capital work in the city to maintain infrastructure, Mayor Daryl Bennett said.

“It gives us a pretty balanced approach to our customer’s needs,” he said. “That’s the range that we should be in operationally speaking on an annualized basis.”

Property taxes for a typical homeowner went up by 2.5% in 2012.

As part of the 2014 guidelines, council would stipulate that the budget would be developed with a 3.6% increase in the police budget — an increase that’s well below the increases that the force has received over the last several years.

This year council approved a 5.4% hike for the force, which increased the cost of policing to $21.3 million from $20.2 million last year. The police board had asked for an additional $425,000.

The police board asked for an 8.4% increase in the city’s funding last year and got a 5.7% increase after a drawn-out battle with council.

Council hears from residents that they’re on fixed incomes and can’t afford large increases in property taxes, Bennett said.

“We are not being mean spirited here,” he said. “It’s considerably higher than what our own wage settlements were (for city workers).”

Hopefully the 3.6% guideline help the police board as it moves into its budgetary process, Bennett said.

“Anything over or above that we’ll either have to cut services or increase taxes or figure out another way of doing it,” he said.

The recommendation in the budget committee report allows for the possibility of an increase greater than 3.6% for the police department.

Any increase in the net police budget beyond the 3.6% would be addressed by council during its 2014 budget deliberations, staff recommend.

Salary and benefit cost increases for the police force will be an estimated $1.2 million next year, which includes the 4.57% salary increases awarded by the board through an agreement this year, staff state. Those costs will drive up the net police budget by 5.64%.

Staff will present the 2014 budget to council Nov. 4. Council’s expected to give final approval to the financial plan Dec. 9.

Coun. Len Vass supports the city sticking to its overall 3% increases for a typical homeowner.

“I think it’s reasonable. I don’t think we’ll want to get anything beyond that,” he said. “We want to make sure that we can maintain service levels.”