Here's what council had to say:
Mayor Nolan Crouse
The mayor said he was surprised maintaining services, at 6.8 percentage points, will require the bulk of the 2009 tax increase due to inflation.
"Just to do nothing (no new spending), it's six per cent. That would suggest that all municipalities throughout Alberta would be at six per cent … it was a little bit higher than I had expected. I hadn't done the arithmetic myself, so it did catch me off guard."
Until details are released on Oct. 27, it's hard to know where to cut, he added, but promised to look for "how much conservatism is built into some of the plans."
"I'll give you an example. In Servus Place, what's truly built in, in terms of the anticipated operating costs? Based on the first nine months — and I haven't seen the exact numbers yet for September — Servus Place is operating at an average of about $100,000-a-month deficit.
"Early numbers on Servus Place that I had seen projected were $200,000 a month in 2009. Well, that to me is an example of perhaps building in conservatism."
Coun. James Burrows
Burrows said it's difficult to comment on the 2009-11 budget until all the details are released Oct. 27. The budget preview presented this week only included proposed tax and utility increases, along with a brief environmental scan.
"What's really, really hurt the city is there's just no housing being built. That extra cash we rely on, it's dried up," he said. "The budget has to be basically a keep-the-lights on budget and that's it."
Turmoil in the global markets is another reason why city council should not approve more than one year of spending, he added.
"Things have really changed a lot since June. Housing stopped. Stock markets had a crash and we're in a correction. We're hearing the United States might be on the brink of a recession. This is why it's a challenge to really plan three years out."
Coun. Lorie Garritty
"It's looking like we're going to have a less than 10 per cent increase, which I suppose is good news. It's going to be a challenge to get that down to six or seven per cent to something that might be more palatable to residents.
"There are going to some tough decisions to be made — every budget year there is — but with the global economy, the national economy, what's happening out there … there's going to be some decisions we really have to struggle with."
Many inflationary pressures are beyond the city's control, he said, adding salaries represent a large portion for any organization.
"The actual reality of the situation is we're still having to pay more to hang on to good people. There's still a fair amount of mobility in the workplace. People in municipalities are having to face the problem that if you don't pay your people well enough they're going to move on."
Garritty surmised it's possible to lower the tax increase by putting off some budget requests, but council can't cut the basics. "I don't hear any of the public saying let's lower our service standards."
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