While they made a lot of progress Wednesday, city council still has a lot of work to do before the 2019 city budget is finalized.
Meeting at Tom Davies Square, the finance and administration committee made two big decisions that residents will notice in the coming year.
The first was an accounting change that will allow council to spend an extra $2.5 million on road work this year, without affecting tax rates. The added funding would be used for large pothole patching of roads across the city, as well as surface work in other areas. Exactly which project will be done will be worked out later.
The $2.5 million is being drawn from a special tax the city is phasing out, called the fire protection levy. It's used to pay for water and sewer capital projects. The plan was to wind down the tax over three years. Instead, the full amount is being drawn this year.
The projects that would have been paid for by the fire protection levy will instead be funded by other capital reserves that are unspent. That's because the city is reviewing all the money set aside for future capital projects, and diverting money from any project that has been dormant for two years
“The choice you would be making is to take those projects and close them ... and redirect those to another purpose,” said city CAO Ed Archer. “The work would not never happen,” he said, but would be deferred to the long-term future.
Mayor Brian Bigger said with all the demands for funding the city has, it makes sense to use money being saved for projects still years away for projects that need to be done now.
“This allows us to spend more money, if we choose, to fix our roads,” Bigger said. “I'm interested in finding ways to fund it without raising taxes.”
Ward 9 Coun. Deb McIntosh said she could support the plan, as long as the money is earmarked for roads, and not general revenue.
“I would like to see it spent on our core business,” she said. “That's where I'd be willing to move that money to.”
“The No. 1 thing residents talk about, is roads, roads, roads,” agreed Ward 6 Coun. Rene Lapierre.
While the original motion was defeated when three councillors didn't vote, the plan was reconsidered and approved a short time later.
McIntosh then moved they remove enough items from the 2019 proposed budget to reduce the property tax hike to no more than three per cent.
She won support for removing a $247,000 item for additional resources for capital projects, and delayed the Lasalle Corridor study for a year, saving another $210,000.
But McIntosh's proposal to delay spending on preparations for the $65 million downtown convention and performing arts centre was defeated.
Ward 5 Coun. Bob Kirwan said council made a commitment to the “transformative” downtown projects, including the art gallery and library.
“I can't support splitting these project up,” Kirwan said.
Ward 8 Coun. Al Sizer agreed, saying The Junction, as the combined projects have been dubbed, are one project.
“I want the complete package,” Sizer said.
With that amendment defeated, and the 2019 property tax hike sitting at 3.3 per cent, council called it a night. They reconvene Thursday at 4 p.m. to take another crack at finalizing the $588 million budget.
