‘Almost shocked’: Moose Jaw councillors react to proposed budget

— By Discover Moose Jaw’s Shawn Slaght

City councillors were pushing back after receiving the proposed city budget for 2021 on Wednesday night at a special budget deliberation meeting.

The proposed budget would have a mill rate increase of 4.05 per cent to generate $1.2 million in additional revenue for the city’s operating and capital budgets.

The tax increases would include a 2.87 per cent increase for the operating budget, 1.18 per cent increase for the police service budget, and an increase of $35 per year in the infrastructure levy to fund the cast iron watermain replacement.

For utilities, there would be a six per cent increase for water and a five per cent hike on sewer rates.

City administration said it was a “status quo” budget with no additional programs added.

Coun. Dawn Luhning was disappointed that city administration decided operations would get back to normal in the coming year, considering the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I’m actually almost shocked that we’ve just decided that, ‘OK, we’re going to get back to normal sometime next year,’” Luhning said. “We have no proof of that. No idea that that’s going to happen and, OK, let’s just reinstate all the expenses back to where we were pre-pandemic.”

Councillors Heather Eby and Jamey Logan recognized that city administration was in a difficult position after coming up with a zero mill rate in 2020, but echoed Luhning’s sentiment that 4.05 per cent was too high when people are still recovering financially.

City manager Jim Puffalt defended the city administration’s position when it came to putting together the proposed budget.

“Those are accurate reflections of the figures that COVID-19 is causing us. If we look at the additional cleaning methods that we have to do and the reduction in people coming through the buildings, those are some of the costs that are coming to get that status quo,” he said.

It was pointed out that revenue was up $1.9 million, or 3.81 per cent, from 2020. However, the city received a one-time payment of $2.1 million in federal restart funding budgeted for 2021, meaning without the funding there would be a $300,000 shortfall in revenue.

The proposed budget has expenditures for $52.55 million, a difference of $3.1 million from 2020 or 6.23 per cent.

Some of the larger expenses included Mosaic Place, sanitation and waste, parks and recreation, and the library.

The proposed budget has been tabled as city council continues deliberations.

The next deliberation meetings take place on Dec. 9 and 16 at 5:30 p.m. at City Hall.