Mayor Nenshi's proposed budget discussion

Over the course of the last two weeks, I have been engaging with aldermen and citizens on the proposed business plan and budget. Here are some of my key points and proposals. I will spare you the detailed line-by-line analysis, but there are a number of smaller operating and (especially) capital budget items to be addressed during the debates in addition to these major points.

Overall

This budget is very different than those in the past in that it is an honest effort to combine efficiencies with preserving the services that Calgarians value and need. The fact that Administration has found over $100 million in efficiencies with minimal impact on front-line services ($45 million with no impact at all) is, in itself, a great achievement, and I congratulate the Administration on its efforts to make this happen.

I strongly believe that the five per cent (5%) increase is fair, that it strikes the right balance, and that we should fight to keep it (or as close to it as we can). Any requests for increases to budget allocations must therefore make a strong case for an increase in the mill rate.

Police

I have spent a lot of time on the police budget, analyzing the numbers put forth by the Service and by the Commission, as well as continuing my conversations with the Province.

I am therefore suggesting the following:

• Deny the request for a return of the $5.1 million in efficiencies Council requested for 2012. I do not find the reasons for this request compelling, and I believe Police Chief Hanson when he repeatedly says that these 2012 reductions (which are less than 1.5 per cent of the police budget) will not impact front-line services. He most recently stated in Saturday’s Herald that “he was confident these moves won't affect front-line positions and will ‘get us through next year.’” Chief Hanson is the best police chief in Canada, and if he believes this is possible, I trust his judgement. In any event, Council should at least capture the $2 million savings from the move to Westwinds.

• Delay the decision with respect to funding new growth and hiring ($4.8 million in 2012). I have a lot of sympathy for the argument that it is difficult to fund growth in the number of officers to match population growth within the current budget envelope. While crime statistics and safety are the right measures here, not the “cop-to-pop” ratio (and violent crime is indeed at its lowest rates in a generation), it does make sense to spread hiring out evenly, given the time it takes to train a new officer. 

The Commission's decision to put growth into a separate budget request gives us something that may be quite attractive for the provincial government to fund. I have been discussing this at the highest levels, as recently as this weekend, but I don't believe that the provincial government is ready yet to make a decision. I would therefore suggest that we refer the budget request to me to discuss with the Premier and the Solicitor General, and return to Council with recommendations prior to the finalization of the tax rate bylaw.

Road Maintenance/Snow and Ice

I find this budget request somewhat frustrating, since Council has invested heavily in snow and ice removal over the last two years (roughly a one-third increase). The additional $3.5 million budget ask is based on the winter 2010/2011 actuals, but this was an extraordinary snow year, and I believe it is poor budgeting practice to calculate our base budgets on extraordinary years.

While Roads has assured me that they will, in fact, do a higher level of snow clearing (as last year), including some residential snow clearing within the proposed budget (the actual budget proposal is somewhat confusing in this respect), they are concerned that a heavy snow year will impede their ability to do summertime maintenance and sidewalk repair (this is apparently what happened in the past when they went over-budget).

I therefore propose the following:

• We make a one-time transfer from the Fiscal Stability Reserve in the amount of $7 million (roughly two years of bad winter cost overruns) to create a new Snow and Ice Reserve. Assuming that the $34 million budget we have in front of us is good for an average year, Roads would be authorized to draw from the Reserve in heavy snow years and to replenish it from their operating budget in light snow years.

Transit

I am surprised that a $4.4 million net increase in the operating budget for 2013 has been portrayed (by some) as a $1 million decrease. We are, after all, opening the first new LRT line in a generation, and one would assume that the massive increase in train service would mean that some bus service is no longer needed (a train does carry a lot more people than a bus after all).

I also really would like to know exactly how much the parents of pre-school children with disabilities are being asked to pay in 2015. I need to be convinced that we should target this vulnerable population for modest cost savings.

I will also be asking for some background to the calculations around the fare increases and what increased revenue they may bring. I am surprised by the proposed increase in the seniors' bus pass rate in the absence of an overarching policy on how to handle this issue. I understand that a report on all fee subsidies will be coming to Council in the new year to better guide our decisions on issues like this. However, my conversations with seniors seem to indicate that the $20 increase in 2012 is reasonable, as long as we keep the pass for low-income seniors at roughly the same level.

Parks and Maintenance

While I am concerned about the state of parks maintenance, I am not sure that the proposed budget cut in this area needs to certainly lead to declines in the quality of park space. Indeed, this is a prime opportunity for us to investigate new and better models for how to do maintenance. I will also have some questions during debate about the results of the experiment this summer in finding different ways to do maintenance.

Fire

I am satisfied with the proposal put forth by the fire department, but note that in this area, employees are suggesting even more efficiencies are possible. It is vitally important to have this department running as efficiently as possible so that any further budget investments are directly translated to improvements in citizen service and response rates.

On the capital side, I still have questions about whether we are spending too much per square foot to build fire stations.

Civic Partners

I don't see a path forward to fund the base increase requests from a number of the civic partners (and I notice that the majority of them are not, in fact, requesting any base increases), but I think we should consider some of the one-time requests. In particular, I think a reserve transfer to fund CADA's working capital project merits consideration, as does the EPCOR Centre's funding gap request and Calgary Economic Development’s Workshift program. I would also like to ask some questions about the use of the money for the Parks Foundation, which may align with some of what we are doing in parks.

Parking Control

I’m interested to know why this operating budget is increasing so much given automation and a reduced workforce. I also have some questions about the capital budget for Park Plus.

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These proposals should allow us to maintain our commitment to keep property taxes at the cost of inflation plus growth. I believe the citizens of Calgary will support this modest tax increase as long as we can show that their money is well-spent. By and large, this proposed budget demonstrates just that.

- Mayor Naheed Nenshi