The city’s annual budget is a process most citizens pay little attention to until the impact on property tax rates is announced. However, the process also determines the city’s service levels and ability to perform infrastructure maintenance.
On May 8, 2023, during the final debate to set last year’s budget, committee chair, Councillor Norman Mann told the council, “We do as a council, have a lot of work to do.”
He noted that capital spending for 2023 was, “just over $12 million. And again, we're only paying back approximately 1.7 [million] into reserves.”
“So, we're definitely going to have to do some work on our reserves moving forward,” the veteran councillor told the then-new councillors.
During 2023, Elliot Lakers continued to see the city’s infrastructure decline. The Westview Park Pavilion was discovered unsafe and demolished. A few weeks later, Centennial Arena was determined unsafe and closed. And 2023’s events followed years of being without facilities due to the collapse of the civic centre roof in 2019 and the closure of the pool in 2022.
Many years of accumulated budget decisions factor into these outcomes.
The Ad Hoc Budget Committee's process typically considers the budget in components: User Fees, Staff Wages, Operating Expenses, and the Capital Budget.
To ensure the 2024 user fee schedule was set before Jan. 1, staff was required to bring it directly to the special council meeting of Dec. 20.
The 2024 budget process begins formally, today at 3 p.m. at city hall. The topic of today’s meeting – staff wages – is expected to be held mostly in a closed session by necessity.