Paying for mayor's tax freeze rests on these items

Provided council approves some final revenue-generating proposals, the city has found the $6 million it needs to pay for the 2015 tax freeze, members of the finance committee will hear next week.

In fact, savings found through the Project $6 million (P6M) initiative slightly exceed the target, coming in at $6,065,359. The bulk of the savings are through attrition, totalling $3.9 million.

In an average year, about 160 people leave their jobs at Tom Davies Square, the report said, either through retirement, firing or other reasons.

“Given the short timeframe of the P6M process, areas for potential attrition did not always match where vacancies were available,” the report says. “As a result, senior staff have had to creatively restructure around opportunities as they presented themselves during the P6M period, in some cases making a time limited draw on reserves in order to take advantage of attrition occurring within 2016.”

To get to the $6-million mark, however, councillors will have to approve $426,074 in savings that would impact service levels. One example is changing the definition of who is a senior — to someone aged 65, rather than 55 — and therefore qualifies for certain discounts. If approved, it would mean $175,000 in revenue will be added to the 2016 budget, including $130,000 for transit, $20,000 for leisure services and $25,000 for parking services.

Another $5,000 would be gained by allowing fire officials to provide fire and carbon monoxide alarms — for a fee — when an inspection reveals there are none in a home.

Requiring residents to get an open air burning permit would raise another $10,000. People would either buy one for the whole year for $50, renew them for $25, or buy one for a week for $10. Another $10,000 would come by allowing the fire department to charge a user fee when they're asked by organizers of festivals and other events to be on hand in case of an emergency.

Another plan estimates the department could raise $70,000 by using the services of Fire Marque Inc., a company that uses a special program that searches homeowner insurance policies after a fire to see whether they have coverage for municipal firefighting costs. Under a similar proposal made last year, Fire Marque keeps 30 per cent of what they find, and the city gets the rest. Another proposal would boost fines for parking infractions, raising an additional $45,300.

If those ideas and others contained in the report aren't adopted, then the savings will fall short of the $6 million, the report said.

At that point, “the total budget savings achieved through Project 6 Million to date will be $5,639,285, leaving a savings gap of $360,715 that city staff will achieve with additional means before the tabling of budget 2016 on Dec. 8,” the report said.

The report will go to the finance and administration committee Nov. 17.