by Lyonel Doherty

It’s a good news budget this year in Oliver.

Chief Financial Officer David Svetlichny said staff were able to transform the budget from a cash deficiency of $435,880 to a balanced budget. This reduction was accomplished without having to raise taxes. In fact, average Oliver residence will see a small tax savings of approximately 0.5 per cent or $2 (from $456 to $454).

Marathon deliberations by council last week resulted in further budget cuts of approximately $19,000 from the original general budgets of $3,143,323.

No major projects have been affected by the cuts, and there is still more deliberation required to determine how to use the $19,000 in savings.

Council went through each department to see where they could trim the budget.

Councillor Dave Mattes introduced a motion to hold their indemnities to last year’s level (at $93,394).

“I didn’t get into this job expecting an increase . . . I’m happy to forego it and set an example that we are looking after the Town’s money.”

Mayor Ron Hovanes said he favoured raising indemnities in small increments to keep up to the cost of living. If they don’t, council could suddenly find itself trying to catch up (with a large increase) and then hearing about it from taxpayers.

Councillor Jack Bennest agreed.

“My fear is if we say we’re going to hold the line this year, you’re obligating yourself to say the same thing next year.”

Councillor Linda Larson said nobody takes this job to make a living because it’s impossible. But if you want quality people, you have to pay for it, noting the number of hours councillors put into the job.

Mattes said voting for a hike in remuneration this year means an increase of $1,776 in the budget.

The motion was defeated, with Bennest, Larson, Hovanes and water councillor Andre Miller voting against it.

Svetlichny said the Town has a bylaw (like other municipalities) that states council remuneration will increase by the consumer price index annually (the CPI for this year is 1.66 per cent). The total increase in the 2012 budget for this amount is $1,776. When compared to the Town’s overall general budgets, this increase is less than half a percent, Svetlichny said.

Another issue that generated discussion was parks maintenance (labour costs), which will see an increase of $10,000 this year.

Director of Operations Shawn Goodsell said Town staff have put in a lot of time and effort beautifying the community and making it look nice because of the Communities In Bloom (CIB) initiative.

Goodsell said Public Works could cut back on weeding to save money. But Larson said the entrance signs to Oliver should be kept immaculate.

However, Bennest said the CIB initiative is over, so the Town should be able to maintain its parks at the current level.

But Councillor Maureen Doerr said they can’t let maintenance work slide or they’ll start hearing complaints.

Mattes said he’s willing to live with a few complaints. But Hovanes isn’t, noting if they take more money out of the maintenance budget, they’ll hear about it from residents.

Council voted to increase the budget by $10,000 to better reflect what it actually costs to maintain Town parks.

The other significant difference from 2011 is legal costs, which show an increase of $10,000 due to increased demand for legal opinions.

Under airport costs, there is an overall decrease of $39,000 due to the partial completion of the Airport Strategic Plan.

The original $22,000 earmarked for economic development contingency was reduced by a new $15,000 line item for a hotel feasibility study.

Under rental properties, revenue increased by nearly 20 per cent as the CPR station rent now reflects market rates.

Under bylaw enforcement, there is a $1,457 decrease over last year’s budget (of $89,500) because of a 50 per cent reduction in extra hours of enforcement.

Councillor Jack Bennest questioned why the Town is spending this much money on bylaw enforcement.

Councillor Maureen Doerr said parking tickets are not being paid, noting people think it’s a joke.

Councillor Dave Mattes made a motion to cut the extra hours budget from $3,000 to $1,000, which council approved.

Council also eliminated $3,500 in web-based marketing costs after Mattes made the motion.

Under the fire department budget, council initially instructed staff to remove the 15,000 capital cost to complete the upstairs renovation of the fire hall. Council also instructed the department to cut its annual budget by an additional $20,000.

In a subsequent meeting, stakeholders were in favour of reinserting the capital project into the 2012 budget. So last week council resolved to take the $15,000 renovation expenditure out of the joint fire department reserve fund (shared by the Town and the rural fire protection district, which funds approximately 50 per cent of the overall fire department budget).

By paying for this $15,000 capital expense this way, there is no effect on current year property taxes, Svetlichny said.

Fire Chief Dan Skaros informed council that the department is short of space for training purposes, so it wants to complete upstairs renovations. This area would be used for watching training videos.

Ernie Rotheisler of the fire protection district said it’s a shame to have this project left unfinished. “We have no problem taking it ($7,500) out of our reserve.”

In other fire budget news, major capital purchased for 2012 include four Ipads for trucks (4,500); various rescue equipment ($34,000); and a training tower ($5,000).