Jasperites could be facing a 20 to 30 per cent increase over the 2020 municipal tax requisition in 2021.
That was the hard pill mayor and councillors were swallowing at the October 27 Committee of the Whole meeting, where administrative staff asked for council’s direction as they worked to produce a budget ready for public consumption. Public budget meetings are tentatively scheduled for November 9 and 10.
“The first step is to set a target,” said John Greathead, who was appointed interim CAO on October 20 following Mark Fercho’s departure.
Administration is asking council to give them a dollar amount, around which they can then build an operational budget, rather than presenting an operational budget that comes with a price tag. Last year, with the COVID-19 pandemic guiding their hand, council passed a $7,000,000 tax requisition after many iterations and back-and-forth meetings, both in public and in-camera.
Councillor Paul Butler, who led much of those discussions, said its important to remember last year’s process was a one-off.
“I’m very concerned framing this in terms of percentages,” he said. “While it’s true it’s a 30 per cent increase over 2020, it’s only 14 per cent over 2019.”
Staff presented two figures for council to use as goal posts: one which represents the fixed costs of providing 2019 service levels in 2021 (including non-discretionary items such as utilities, insurance and debenture repayments); and another which represents a “best practices” number—including costs such as contracted maintenance and repairs, staffing requests and increased transfers to reserves. The difference between the two goal post figures is $693,000, nearly 70 per cent ($472K) of which is in the operations department, and a “good chunk” of which represents transfers to reserves, according to Legislative Services Manager Christine Nadon.
“We need to put more away in reserves for everything,” Nadon said. “Not just water, sewer and recycling.”
Greathead told council that he recognizes the larger “best practices” number is troubling, but Jasper is running on fumes when it comes to its deteriorating infrastructure. He said among other capital assets, Jasper needs to “future proof” its utility system.
“I agree it has a bit of sticker shock,” Greathead said. “But having said that, this isn’t an arbitrary ask.”
Councillor Jenna McGrath expressed her discomfort with the notion of such a steep tax hike.
“I simply couldn’t agree to a 30 per cent tax increase,” she said.
Councillor Scott Wilson suggested council will have to bite the bullet.
“It’s going to be sour for some, but I don’t want to not be putting money away for future generations,” he said. “By going with figure one we limit ourselves for what’s going away to pay for costs coming at us.”
Bob Covey// thejasperlocal@gmail.com
