Adam Prudhomme
Beaver Staff
Greater Napanee council directed town staff to reduce about $60,000 of their proposed operating and capital budget, which was presented last Thursday during the fourth round of 2019 budget meetings.
Finding that $60,000 savings of the overall $12.3 million operating and capital budget, be it through cutting services or increasing revenue, would lower the proposed 3.47 per cent overall tax levy to closer to three per cent.
Where they’ll find those savings remains to be seen however. Council voted to meet again on April 18 for a public meeting where both council and town staff will present their ideas as to how to get the overall number at or below three per cent.
“I think sometimes the things we don’t take into consideration, and that 3.47 per cent is not within something that I would like to see either, but if we cut services, this’ll be the first thing we hear about,” said mayor Marg Isbester. “There are things we can do, like let’s stop giving facilities away at no rent for a good purpose. Our facilities are expensive to maintain, at least one of them still with a debenture, that we’re paying on but we feel is part of our civic duty that we should have it.”
Isbester asked Greater Napanee chief administrative officer Ray Callery to put a ballpark figure on the amount of revenue the town foregoes with reduced or no cost rentals to their various facilities for charitable events, to which Callery estimated the figure to be in ‘tens of thousands.’
“Does it generate some revenue, does it help out people? Yeah it does,” said Isbester. “But those are the things that we just don’t think of.”
Isbester predicted residents will likely suggest the cuts to come from two places-the town’s fleet budget or the Big Bright Light Show, which the town organizers every November, illuminating the downtown in thousands of coloured LED lights. Installing the lights cost the town upwards of $40,000 per year.
“The Bright Light Show, is there a way that we can generate more revenues on that but still have it itself?,” said Isbester. “How many things do we cut that we’ve worked on over the years? How far backward do we want to go but not tax people that live here now that have been paying forever?”
Each councillor supported the idea of working to get to closer or even below the three per cent threshold and each agreed they would research their own ideas to find those savings, be it through offering fewer services or finding new revenue streams.
Deputy mayor Max Kaiser, who put forward the motion that staff and council brainstorm ideas to get the number close to or below three percent, acknowledged there are factors that are beyond their control-namely policing costs and government funding. He expressed his support of the Big Bright Light Show however, citing that it would promote future growth within the municipality. He agreed with town staff when they warned that governments tightening their belts at both the provincial and federal level would mean fewer grants for much needed infrastructure work.
The April 18 meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. at Napanee Town Hall.