It’s been all quiet on the firehall front lately.
Time to change that. When last we left the saga, city council had chosen Prentice Park as the location for the new facility. The next step is to let the poor taxpayers know how much the new firehall will cost.
We haven’t heard anything from City Hall, but word on the street is it will be in the $22 million range. (I have that on good authority … namely the boys in the coffee shop.) It’s probably not that far off. When I was in Prince George, residents there approved, by 85 per cent, borrowing $15 million for a new firehall. The project went $2 million over budget and came in around $17 million in 2020.
Taking post-pandemic inflation into account, a $22 million price tag here probably isn’t that far off.
There is no question, the city needs a new firehall so a referendum on borrowing the money needed is likely to pass. But the question the city needs to address prior to that is what impact that borrowing will have on the city’s bottom line.
City council, in a split decision, just passed its 2024 budget containing a 6.1 per cent tax increase for residents. The original proposal was for a 9.5 per cent tax increase, but council managed to get that down to 6.1 per cent by using the remaining Covid Safe Restart grant money.
So, a status quo budget next year, all things being equal, starts with a 3.4 per cent increase as the Covid Safe Restart money won’t be available.
However, Mayor Nic Milligan said the tax levy allows the city to continue to provide the same level of services and still have money to save.
“We have to always consider the quality, the range of services that we provide, that any decrease in tax or reduction in overall spending means a reduction in services,” he told the Free Press. “This strikes a nice balance between maintaining the services that we provide and putting money away in reserves.”
The big hit to the budget the year after the firehall referendum, assuming it passes, will be the cost of borrowing $22 million (give or take).
It’s great that the city has passed a budget that puts money into reserves. The question is will those reserves be used to lessen the blow to taxpayers to pay for the new firehall? And, following up on that, how much?
It’s probably safe to assume the city doesn’t have $22 million sitting in reserves, so there will be a budgetary impact once the money is borrowed. The question, again, is how much?
The challenge before council will then be to pass a budget, possibly next year but likely the year after, that maintains current levels of services but doesn’t also contain a double-digit budget increase.
Bill Phillips is an award-winning columnist with 35 years of experience in community newspapers.