Rapidly rising electricity costs are causing challenges for District of Clearwater, according to director of finance Roxanne Shepherd.
Speaking at an open house held Feb. 7 to discuss the District’ budget, Shepherd said, as an example, the electrical power used for Clearwater’s streetlights has seen a $11,000 increase.
READ MORE: New director of finance starts (Sept. 2, 2017)
READ MORE: Budget open houses attract public interest (Feb. 18, 2014)
The municipality is fighting back by installing LED lights in the Sportsplex and Dutch Lake Community Centre. Solar cells provide much of the power to operate the sewage treatment lagoons on the Flats.
RoxanneShepherdMugIf the District does an event, such as the canoe regatta, then it needs to take out extra insurance to cover it.
A common practice has been to let some other organization put on the event and then the municipality will help pay for insurance.
Examples of the latter practice would be the Banff Film Festival showing and Take Back the Night.
Audience member Cheryl Thomas commented that it seemed a lot of money was going out of the community for insurance.
However, CAO Leslie Groulx pointed out that, if something happens at a District-sponsored event, then it is the general taxpayers who pay the bill.
Groulx also noted that the District of Clearwater makes over $200,000 a year by hosting the local ICBC office.
Town councillor Gord Heisterman asked for suggestions on how to increase the ridership on the local bus system.
The system is operated by Yellowhead Community Services with funding from BC Transit, District of Clearwater and Thompson-Nicola Regional District.
Sandra Holmes thought educating people on how to ride the buses would be a good place to start.
B.C.’s Community Charter requires that municipalities have no deficits in their financial plans, said Shepherd.
In practice, that means that any debt or borrowing must be approved through referendum or other assent process.
The District is on a timeline to draft and approve its financial plan in time to adopt a tax rate in May.
Tax payment deadline will be July 3.
Only about half of the property taxes collected by District of Clearwater go to the municipality. About a quarter go to the school district, with the remainder to the regional hospital district, TNRD and so on.
Roads take up the largest single piece of the municipality’s budget, about 38 per cent. This includes snow removal, street-lighting, and summer maintenance.
Major proposed capital project for roads this year would be a $1.7 million grant application to reconstruct Robson/Murtle Road.
Cost of operating the Sportsplex is shared 60/40 with the TNRD.
Major project for this year is a biomass heater, which is to cost $580,000 and to be completed by March.
The fire department has 21 members and responded to 41 calls last year. Training costs for the department are expected to continue increasing as requirements get higher.
A major projects for parks this year will be a new cenotaph. It is anticipated this $80,000 project will be totally funded by Veterans Affairs and other sources.
Upgrades to the Dutch Lake shelter and boat launch are to cost $76,000 while beach trail improvements will cost $58,000.
Last year saw the completion of Well #3 plus a new waterline linking it to Eden Road. Total cost was $2.2 million, of which the federal and provincial governments paid the biggest share.
READ MORE: Water upgrades face budget overrun (Jan. 17, 2018)
Capital projects for this year could include a $1.2 million upgrade to sewage treatment Cell #1 to bring it online. A grant to cover most of the cost has been applied for.
Also in the works is a $100,000 sewage lift station for near Dairy Queen.
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