After months of talk and discussion, the City of Humboldt has completed the first draft of the 2016 Budget.
At the time of publication, the city was looking at a $3.6 million deficit which could include borrowing $2.25 million for two capital projects; the Centennial Park project and the Automated Household Waste Project.
However, these numbers can change says City Manager, Roy Hardy, since the drafted deficit does not include the finalized costs of certain projects and does not include some increased revenue streams like levies and taxation.
Some infrastructure projects are on the list to be done but council will have to whittle those down to make sure the city can manage the costs, as well as finding new partnerships and funding opportunities to help with the cost side of things, says Hardy.
The budget consultation meeting on Apr. 5 will leave some of these major projects up to the community since this will be their first glimpse of the draft.
Now that the budget is drafted, the city can take a deeper look at revenue streams and how far they can bring that deficit number down, says Hardy.
“We have to look at some of our off site fees to take some of the pain off of the property tax. It’s looking at some of the ways that can be done.”
Storm water management will be an important factor in budget decisions for the next 3-5 years to help make the city climate resistant, says Hardy. This includes the $1.75 million Centennial Park project.
Along with some beautification and parking expansion elements of the project, the city will also have more control of storm water with holding ponds and addition pumping systems included in the design to control run off, flooding, or any other rain event that hits Humboldt.
“We’ll be putting forward some recommendations to council in terms of how that project is funded, time frame, and those sorts of things,” says Hardy.
Money collected from the infrastructure and storm water levies have already been earmarked for certain projects but short term borrowing for the park project will ensure that the storm water levy will continue, says Hardy.
Borrowing for the waste management project is not for certain but it is about $500,000 for the cost of bins for the program. There are different ways of funding that the city will be looking into before borrowing, says Hardy.
“We may not be borrowing but we might be looking at a self-sustaining solution that would involve the type of thing that always happens in utilities, for example, there might be a deposit put on the bins as opposed to borrowing for them.”
That would help with the establishment of the program, says Hardy.
Some budget items had been previously approved, which include the new See, Click, Fix app, called Humboldt Connects, that will be presented to the city at the next council meeting on Apr. 11.
The Water Distribution Plant that was tendered last week was approved early in the budget season to get the project underway, says Public Works Director Peter Bergquist.
Bergquist also notes the 11th Avenue Storm Main project received early funding since it will increase storm water capacity and will be the most cost effective.
“Because we had the storm in July of 2015, it was favourable to move this project ahead prior to the budget process, which is why it is underway,” says Bergquist.
The sooner this budget item was approved, the quicker the project could be started. The city will have to consult with the Humboldt Golf Club before proceeding with the project since the work will directly impact some of the holes.
The city also approved improvements to the curling rink to make it more accessible to people with disabilities. With more activities at the curling rink in the off season, the city is working on improved access from the lobby to the ice surface.
“We’re now using that curling rink more and more during the off season as well as during the regular season. So with that type of activity, it’s now important for us to make sure that it’s handicap accessible.”
With the current state of the budget, this also leaves the city with less money going into the reserves.
The discussion with the city has been that they are not putting away enough to make serious progress on their assets especially when growth related projects are added on top of management programs, says Hardy.
“Meeting the needs of maintaining what we’ve got is an expensive proposition, so when you add to that somebody wants something related to growth, it just adds another brick on the load.”
It’s a balancing act, says Hardy.
