The City of Grand Forks is in the midst of completing its 2012-16 Five Year Financial Plan as council makes decisions on budgeting.
While there was an increase in the city’s electrical utility rate in January, there aren’t any other anticipated increases for the rest of the year as city Chief Financial Officer Cecile Arnott said she hasn’t heard anything from FortisBC regarding this.
However, there could be other increases, as water and sewer usage fees could increase by $90,000.
Proposed preventative maintenance and minor capital projects include repairs to the beacon radio at the airport, estimated to cost $68,000.
“The airport needs to fix the beacon radios so that they can do night flights,” explained Arnott at a special council meeting this past Monday night. “If we don’t fix them, (they are failing) we can’t do Medevacs anymore.”
With the Grand Forks International Baseball Tournament a big draw for the city, $17,000 worth of work for the infield at James Donaldson Park was proposed.
“The infield work needs to be done and apparently it’s been a safety issue as well,” Arnott said. “If we do it, the expected life is another 15 to 20 years.”
Repairs on the washrooms at Barbara Ann Park were also part of the proposed budget for an estimated cost of $10,000.
“We’re suggesting that since (the three) are one offs and we’re looking at tremendous pressure for tax money, that we do these this coming year and fund from surplus”
Other proposed maintenance projects included $15,000 for the Trans Canada Trail crossing design on Highway 3 – $15,000 or 50 per cent of that would be funded by the Ministry of Transportation and the city’s 50 per cent ($15,000) could come from the Trail Project Fund and slag sales reserve. The slag sales reserve funded the city’s portion of the trail project.
There was also a proposed $10,000 that could go towards preventative maintenance on the exterior of the Scout Hall on 72nd Avenue.
As of Monday’s meeting, the water utility was expected to see revenue of $790,000 while operation expenses were anticipated at $715,000. Minor capital was projected to be $75,000 and studies and planning projected to be $255,000 with a deficit of $255,000.
The sewer utility’s revenue was projected to be $908,000 with operation expenses projected to be $697,000. Minor capital was projected to be $25,000, studies and planning at $253,000, debt servicing at $186,000 with a deficit of $253,000 forecast.
The summary of total incremental levies reflected in 2012 could be $100,000 for the operations budget, $10,000 for the scout hall, $20,000 for committees, $77,000 for community support line items, $5,000 for hanging baskets and items such as banners, an offset by an increase of $20,000 thanks to a transfer from electrical for a net increase of $192,00 in tax revenue.
An initial presentation on the plan was made at the March 19 city council meeting while, as mentioned, the second presentation took place Monday night. Another meeting is planned for tomorrow (Thursday) at 2 p.m. and will deal with James Donaldson Park, the Boundary Emergency Transition Housing Society (BETHS), the Boundary Women’s Coalition and the Boundary Museum.
A five-year bylaw is expected to see three readings at the next council meeting, this Monday (April 2).