Spending in the Municipality of Meaford has jumped by $1.5 million (30 per cent) according to the first 2008 budget proposal presented to council at a special meeting last Thursday afternoon.
Financial consultant David Creech presented projected spending for 2008 at the meeting. Each municipal department head gave council a brief overview of their areas of responsibility. Creech presented the overall impacts of the first draft budget for 2008.
Members of council were swallowing hard when Creech told them projected spending is up $1.5 - or 30 per cent. That total does not include a deficit from 2007 that could be as high as $1.7 million.
Creech presented council with a series of spending increases forecast for 2008. He also went on to present a list of possible cutbacks the municipality can make to minimize any tax increase.
"It's not a nice number. It's not a number the senior management team is pleased about," Creech said of the $1.5 million. "Everybody is prepared to sit down and sharpen their pencils," he said.
Creech's report detailed that the municipality is facing increased spending pressures from just about every angle.
Areas that are up included:
- $230,000 in new costs for long-term debt repayments for Meaford Hall
- $170,000 in new costs for long-term debt repayments for capital roads projects
- $250,000 increase in the cost of garbage and recycling pick up
- $200,000 in salary increases
- $100,000 in general costs increases for fuel and utilities
- $100,000 increase for Fire Service
- $300,000 extra for the costs of OPP policing
- $50,000 increase in salaries for the building department
- $100,000 for the salary and benefits to hire a CAO
Creech stressed that the numbers being presented were the first draft of the 2008 budget. He said a lot of work remains to be done by municipal staff, committees and council itself.
As part of his presentation Creech presented a lengthy list of budget reduction options for council to consider. He said none of the options were recommendations.
"These are options to consider, evaluate, deliberate on and eventually make decisions on," said Creech.
The reduction options included:
- Deferring the issuance of long-term debt for Meaford Hall and capital roads programs for part of the year to save $100,000
- Reduce the number of public advisory committees in the municipality in order to cut back on staff costs associated with the committees, paper costs and overtime costs for a potential saving of $50,000
- Cancel the tourism/economic development contract with the Meaford and District Chamber of Commerce to save $150,000
- Cancel the planned contribution to the Meaford Hospital Foundation to save $75,000
- Reduce the General Roads Maintenance account by 50 per cent to save $160,000
- Delay a planned staff wide salary increase until July to save $75,000
- If/when there are staff vacancies wait three months before filling the position in order to save money (Creech suggested $100,000 could be saved with this course of action, but told council that amount would depend on if there were any staff vacancies during the year)
- Hold off hiring a CAO until October to save $50,000 (Creech noted that for the length of time it will require for the municipality to recruit a CAO it was likely that the position wouldn't be filled until the fall anyway)
- Reduce the increase in the fire services budget by $75,000
- Reduce the cost of the library agreement with Owen Sound by $50,000 (Creech said that contract with Owen Sound is a legal document and that changing it might not be an option)
Creech also suggested that the municipality needed to develop business cases for various municipal entities such as the pool, arena, Memorial Park, the Harbour, Cemetery, Meaford Hall to maximize revenues received from those facilities. He also said all municipal fees and charges have to be reviewed with an eye towards increasing them.
Creech also said the municipality needs to communicate with its neighbours about possibly finding better deals for the purchase of fuel, gravel, paper, photocopy costs and tires. Council could also consider renting out portions of Meaford Hall to add an annual revenue stream. In addition the hours of operation for various facilities needs to be looked at and the municipality should consider cutting back some services such as snow removal and sidewalk plowing to save money.
"Many of these are not going to be popular," said Creech, who promised that council would be fully informed about the decisions they may need to make. "I don't want you making a decision if you don't know the impact. (The senior management team) should be able to clearly outline the impact to you," he said.
Council decided after the presentation to immediately send the numbers reported by Creech back to the municipality's various committees for further study and work. In the meantime senior staff will be looking to make cuts to the budget. Council plans to schedule formal budget meetings in early April.
Deputy Mayor Francis Richardson said after the meeting that council, staff and the community are now fully aware of the financial pressures facing the municipality.
"The road just became a lot harder. We'll deal with this," he said. "I think we made it loud and clear we have to do something very, very serious this year and maybe for two years," he said.
