Red Deer city council has passed a rejigged budget — but not without more debate about making deeper service cuts to reduce the tax burden.
“I am painfully aware of the financial strain to businesses … it also gravely burdens me,” said Coun. Vesna Higham, who advocated council take another “quick look” to find more savings.
While Higham admitted that council did take measures to keep the tax increase below one per cent when the operating budget was passed earlier this year, she added that pandemic-related revenue losses have since caused “tremendous financial strain” on city residents and businesses.
The city has already closed recreational facilities and programs, and temporarily laid off more than 300 regular and casual staff to bring down expenses.
City manager Allan Seabrooke told council that, aside from allowing ratepayers whose revenues are strained by the pandemic to defer their taxes for up to three months, “we are not in a position to do much else without causing significant medium and long-term impact. It is not in the best interest of the city.”
But Higham suggested council could consider “scaling back services” to further reduce the tax burden on the community.
“I believe our citizens would be understanding of service reductions in these unprecedented times,” she added.
The rest of council did not support making more last-minute cuts, as they feared these could lead to long-term difficulties.
Coun. Lawrence Lee said the operating budget passed in January already examined all possible efficiencies, whittling down services to cover citizens’ most basic needs: “garbage, water, wastewater…”
While city workers are now cleaning the streets of gravel and embarking on mosquito control, Lee believes “those things have to happen… I fear that if we cut too deeply, it will take too long for Red Deer to recover,” he added.
Coun. Dianne Wyntjes said council needs to think about the big picture, and not solely focus on this short-term pain.
“We are all concerned about 2020 operations… (but) there will be other opportunities for us to make changes and savings as time passes…”
In the end, all councillors, except Higham, supported adopting a 2020 operating budget that includes municipal tax revenues of $138,941,353, adding $275,000 in supplementary taxes, and a Downtown Business Association levy of $419,900.
lmichelin@reddeeradvocate.com
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