Cash flow, round three

City council has raised a scalpel toward next year's 8.97 per cent property tax increase.

By Tuesday, more than 60 motions were raised to cut or add funding. The cuts amount to $2.7 million for 2009 alone, with other capital changes proposed in 2010 and 2011.

Spend thrift

Here's a sampling of recent cuts proposed for 2009. (For past motions click here).  

• Cut $371,2000 for affordable housing from the capital budget. (Lorie Garritty). Note: the city previously asked the St. Albert Housing Society to raise the funds, as a condition of $740,000 in grant. 
• Cut $200,000 from Servus Place's material, goods and supplies budget (Nolan Crouse)
• Cut $105,800 for Riel Recreation Park operations (Nolan Crouse)
• Cut $100,000 from the snow and ice removal budget (Nolan Crouse)
• Cut $100,000 from Servus Place's contracted and general goods budget (Nolan Crouse)
• Cut $30,300 for a landscape technologist (Nolan Crouse)
• Cut $32,100 from the environmental management system program by reducing proposed staff to a half-time position (Nolan Crouse)
• Cut $25,000 from the 150th anniversary budget (Len Bracko)
• Cut $25,000 for murals at Servus Place (Roger Lemieux)

• Cut $20,000 for SmartDriver program (James Burrows)

More cuts

A few motions targeted significant capital spending beyond 2009:
• Cut $2.4 million from the 2010 capital budget for Riel Park landfill reclamation (Nolan Crouse)

• Cut $1.4 million from the 2010 utility capital budget for Riel Park remediation (Nolan Crouse)

Hold off

Council also made a few motions to delay spending:
• Defer for one year $216,200 from snow and ice control budget (Len Bracko)
• Defer for one year $225,000 for a tandem truck/snow plow (Len Bracko)
• Defer for one year $400,000 for St. Albert Place upgrades over 2010-11 (Nolan Crouse)

Spend more

Council members also introduced motions to increase or fast track spending:

• Fund $88,500 for RCMP youth asset development officers starting in 2009, not 2010; Fund $205,000 for asset development in 2010, not 2011 (Lorie Garritty)

• Fund $25,000 for a train whistle bylaw (Nolan Crouse)

All motions will be debated starting Nov. 26.

Cash flow, round 2

City council members aren't shy about trimming away at the 2009 operating and 2009-11 capital budget. Several new initiatives are under early scrutiny, from the 40 new full-time staffing positions proposed to the two dog parks that led to many questions Thursday.

At the same time, there's no apprehension about adding spending as needed. Here's a run-down of deletion/addition motions that were introduced Nov. 6. All motions will be debated starting Nov. 27.

Spend thrift

Proposed cuts:

- Fundraising manager, $90,000 in 2009 (Roger Lemieux).
- $25,000 to develop a new tourism website (Roger Lemieux).
- Remove $400,000 from community capital program - money set aside for grassroots projects (Carol Watamaniuk).
- Remove purchase of an $27,000 maintenance truck for Fountain Park Recreation Centre (Roger Lemieux).
- Cut $35,000 from 2011 Alberta 55-Plus Winter Games, to match bid package (Nolan Crouse).

Spend more

Proposed additions, funding changes, approval motions:

- That $60,000 in budget for youth asset development program be approved (Gareth Jones).
- That $160,000 for the community capital program be funded with unallocated provincial grants (Nolan Crouse).
- Add $10,000 for mock disaster exercise to emergency management budget (Lorie Garritty).

Also, Carol Watamaniuk introduced a motion to not charge higher rent to St. Albert Place Visual Arts Council until staff complete a fiscal analysis.

Council resumes budget deliberations on Thursday.

Cash flow

Council on Tuesday kicked off the 2009 operating and 2009-11 capital budget review. 

The first five-hour session focused on department budgets for city council, the city manager's office, corporate communications, business and tourism development and common & fiscal.

Tuesday featured several motions to cut or add spending. Motions will not be debated until Nov. 27. Here's the breakdown, with the council member responsible for the motion in parenthesis:

Spend thrift

Proposed cuts:

- Corporate planning co-ordinator, $50,600 in 2009 (James Burrows).

- Geographic information system capital equipment worth $195,000 over 2009-11 (James Burrows).

- Alberta Health Care premiums — $304,000 remains in the budget, a leftover from when the city paid for premiums for staff. The province starts paying next year (Lorie Garritty).

- Seniors’ property tax rebate, $55,000 (Nolan Crouse: delete funding until policy is in place).

- Reduce business and tourism development’s contracted services budget by $25,000 in 2009 (Nolan Crouse).

- Reduce council’s training budget by $1,000 per member (Nolan Crouse).

Spend more

Proposed additions:

- $400,000 in capital budget for the community tourism strategy in 2009 and 2011. This item was previously unfunded (Nolan Crouse wants to fund it using unallocated provincial grants).

- $10,000 for an idle-free public awareness campaign (Lorie Garritty).

Budget meetings continue tonight with presentations from culture, recreation, Family and Community Support Services, emergency management and fire services.