Duane Hicks
Town council accepted the 2009 operating budget last night, and while council and administration still have a lot of work to do, the shortfall isn’t quite as bad as previously thought.
Treasurer Laurie Witherspoon informed council she was contacted by the Ministry of Finance yesterday, which informed her that the town’s Ontario Municipal Partnership Fund (OMPF) allotment for 2009 would be $3,142,600, not $2,984,500 as indicated in the 2009 operating budget—reducing the deficit by $158,100.
Up until that good news, the 2009 operating budget had a shortfall of $401,932, representative of a 5.3127 percent residential municipal levy change using starting tax ratios.
But the additional $158,000 reduces that shortfall to $243,832, knocking the five percent levy change down by about two percent.
The 2009 operating forecast shows total corporate revenues in the amount of $16,126,089 and corporate expenditures in the amount of $7,493,466. Administration and Finance operating costs will equal $831,529 while Community Services will equal $4,944,479.
Operations and Facilities operating costs will amount to $2,839,004, with Planning and Development’s totalling $261,443.
Fort Frances CAO Mark McCaig stressed town administration is “not inclined in any way, shape or form to expect the municipal taxpayer to carry the full burden of [the deficit]. It’s our job to go forward and find efficiencies, we do it every year.
“Five years ago we had a massive operational shortfall, but we worked at it with the council of the day and we came up with something at the end of the day that was reasonable for the taxpayers,” McCaig noted. “We’re committed to do the same thing this year, as well.
“We have no intention of placing the full burden on the municipal taxpayer,” he stressed. “Never have, never will.”
Mayor Roy Avis vowed that this year council will, as it has every other year he’s been on council, will show due diligence going through the budget, be “very involved” in the budget process, and not just accept what’s put before them.
“We’re here to protect the citizens, and I think we’ve done a very good job of that in the past and we’ll try to do so this year,” he pledged.
In the report received by council, Witherspoon reiterated the budget process is far from over.
“The preliminary 2009 operating budget is essentially the beginning of a comprehensive process that will involve a thorough examination of the town’s finance and all factors regarding the provision of services,” she noted.
The 2009 budget process began with the adoption of the budget timetable and the public meeting, which was held back on Sept, 22. Since then, administration has been working on operational projections and capital needs for coming year, and there has been a cursory review at the divisional level by all executive committees.
The budget timetables call for special committee of the whole budget meetings to be held each alternate Monday to regular
council meetings, with the first being scheduled for Jan. 19.
The timetable is a framework, and undoubtedly meetings will be added or deleted as the process continues, noted Witherspoon.
If all goes to plan, council will ratify the budget at its March 9 meeting, then hold a public meeting March 23 to explain the budget and then finally vote on it to pass it as a bylaw April 13.
“There is a great deal of work to do as evidenced by the operational shortfall,” said Witherspoon. “Mayor and council will have ample opportunity to affect changes to the budget document through active participation and consultation with administration throughout the committee of the whole meetings.”
The shortfall does not include consideration for any transfers to reserve funds or future rolling stock or building replacements, nor does it include any new capital long-term debt.
“Clearly there is a great deal of work to do and prudent decisions to be made for this coming year’s budget as a result of the magnitude of the large industrial assessment loss resulting from reassessment and successful prior year minutes of settlement,” Witherspoon noted in her report, referring to the mill property.
Stressing that the public should be kept aware of the budget process, several councillors asked that the budget meeting timetable be posted on the town’s website at www.fort-frances.com
McCaig also noted he’d like to see Shaw broadcast all of the budget meetings, in addition to regular council meetings, to show the public how hard the mayor, council, and administration work on the annual budget and try to find efficiencies.
Coun. Ken Perry agreed, adding that should Shaw choose to cover the meetings, it will show “a little more openness and transparency to what we’re doing here.”
“We’re not trying to do it behind closed doors, but nobody ever shows up to the meetings to give any input,” he added. “Here’s the place it happens.”
