After nearly two hours and plenty of financial statements, Mayor Steve Black came to a rather blunt conclusion at city hall Wednesday night.
"We are at a very unacceptable situation right now," said Black.
This, after it was learned that the city's budget currently sits at between a six and eight per cent overall tax increase. He said there will be some very tough decisions ahead before a budget can be approved. Most of the city departments have presented small budget increases.
"Our residents aren't going to accept where we sit right now, I don't think, so we do have to look at some of the options tonight. Whether they be reductions, or exploring reductions; whether they be exploring using some of the reserves that we have built up over time, the last few years for situations like this; or, whether they be reviewing some of our projects. We have several capital projects on the go right now, between the library entrance, to the museum expansion, tourism relocation, east end fire hall and the aquatic centre," said Black.
The city currently has $1 million committed to the detailed design phase for the new aquatic facility at the Archie Dillon site, a project Black has been actively promoting but there is now a hint of doubt creeping in.
"I've always maintained that I will support it, if we can fiscally support it. I don't know that we can fiscally support all four so council may need to review and decide what its priorities are with respect to those projects because I can tell you, I won't vote for a six to eight per cent increase. I don't think anyone will be walking down the street if we do vote in favor of a six to eight per cent increase, at least not very happily," he said.
Black said council still has a lot of work to do in terms of bringing the budget in line. He also said there are meetings with multiple mining operations this week, which could be great economic prospects for the municipality, and he hoped to bring updates to council in the near future.
Councillor Rick Dubeau was not happy with the current state of the budget. He also didn't appreciate that even more of the tough decisions concerning cuts have seemingly been heaped onto council.
"We told department heads to come back with a minus two. We're looking at 4.5, we don't even have all the numbers in yet. If the minus two comes, its still not enough. That's when we (motioning to council) make more cuts. Department heads have been told, have been directed by council to come back with a minus two. That is their responsibility," he said.
Councillor Noella Rinaldo wasn't sure about the ability for some of the departments to come in much lower.
"We gave the direction to go down minus two. What they've done is given us a 'wish list'. I don't consider it that much of a 'wish list," she said.
Rinaldo played devil's advocate on behalf of city department heads by remarking that the vast majority of the new expenditures requested are vital.
"I think most of this list we've gone through. We can go through it again, some of the parks perhaps might be there, but a lot of it, when you're looking at a cemetery asking for a riding mower, these I don't really consider frivolous. I think they've brought it down as much as they possibly can," said Rinaldo.
She said its up to council to get 'down and dirty' and begin the unpleasant task of trimming municipal services across the board.
Mayor Steve Black says that some major capital projects may have to be put on hold, given the current state of the city budget. Andrew Autio for TimminsToday "Because at this point, we're cutting services." she said. "If we want minus two per cent, then we have to start cutting services."
She implied that soon council will have to put on their 'big boy' pants and do some serious slashing.
"Its easy to say 'I want minus two', that's what they're saying. 'This is as low as I'm going to go' and its up to us now to make that minus two. It is not up to those departments to cut services, its up to us," said Rinaldo.
"Our reserves are very low right now," noted the city's Director of Finance Jim Howie.
"They are low, but six to eight per cent is very high," replied Black.
Black instructed Howie to bring back an extensive and detailed update to council for the next budget meeting on Wednesday. It will included what each department's capital and operating cost variations are, where the reserve coffers are at, and Black finished by saying that, in a year when the city is facing a six to eight per cent increase, he doesn't have much interest in saving up for future capital.
There is one more budget meeting scheduled for next week, with Feb. 22 left open as an extra meeting date if required.
