An interesting bar graph jumps off the page of a city budget backgrounder. The graphic breaks down how much of the tax increase is needed for various city functions.
Here's the breakdown:
Protective services (fire, ambulance, police, bylaw): 2.31%
Corporate services (HR, finance, assessment, taxation, legal, communications, IT) : 1.95%
Land use/developments: 1.75%
Roads: 1.67%
Transit: 1.35%
If you're doing the math those percentage points combined equal 9.03 per cent, which is above the proposed 8.39 per cent increase for 2009.
The same bar graph shows the following:
Culture/recreation/FCSS (Servus Place levy): -0.64% (yes, that's a negative)
Could Servus Place really be responsible for bringing the tax rate down? Technically, yes.
City administration attributes the tax drop in that category to Servus Place's improved deficit situation, which spells good news for this year and beyond.
Don't break out the confetti just yet. It's important to remember St. Albert's budget does not start from scratch every year. Council reviews new spending.
Just six months ago council approved a $2.2-million subsidy for Servus Place that added 3.68 percentage points to the 2008 tax increase. (Council later cut spending elsewhere to bring the total increase down to 5.9 per cent).
So while the Servus Place subsidy could actually decrease next year and reflect well on the 2009 tax increase, there's still a lot of tax dollars supporting the facility.
Progress has been made, but take it with a grain of salt.
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