Maple Ridge district’s operations this year has piled up a spare $357,000.

And the district will rake in another $4.3 million next year – partly as a result of taxpayers digging deeper into their pockets.

But just as quickly, the money will be spent on fire, police, wages, roads and sewers.

Politicians pored over binders and handouts for two days as they reviewed budget guidelines that call for a 5.6-per-cent increase in property tax next June. That reflects hikes in utilities such as water and sewer, passed on by Metro Vancouver and will see the municipal taxes on an average home hit about $2,211.

When TransLink, school board and other levies are piled on, about another $1,000, July’s average tax bill will climb to about $3,200.

The numbers are based on an average home priced at $399,000.

But it’s a scenario that can’t continue, said Coun. Al Hogarth.

The district’s financial model is based on residential growth, he said.

“I don’t see a sustainable model here,” Hogarth said Monday during the business-planning talks.

“As long as we rely on a residential tax base, it’s not sustainable. I think we want to work on a different level … if we really want to reach a sustainable level.”

The district is working on that, said financial general manager Paul Gill.

In an attempt to attract industry and broaden the tax base, budget guidelines show that in 2008, taxes on major industry dropped by five per cent and will do so again next year by the same amount. The resulting increase on residential taxes is a sixth of a per cent.

The overall increase for the district include three-per-cent raises in property taxes for general purposes and another one per cent to be socked away into a special account for future rebuilding of roads, sewers and sidewalks.

Metro Vancouver is raising its water rates again, by 12 per cent, to pay for new distribution and filtration plants. But a special fund allows the district to pay for part of those increases directly so it will only increase rates by nine per cent.

District chief administrator Jim Rule sketched out a rosy future for Maple Ridge.

The district is halfway on a growth curve that will see it expand to a population of 134,000 by 2040. In addition, the downtown’s core will densify and almost triple in population in the next decade to 22,000.

Rule said Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. data show that Maple Ridge home prices were only 62 per cent of the average Lower Mainland home. Compared to Burnaby’s average price of just under a million dollars, Maple Ridge’s average home price was $560,000.

“That gives us a huge advantage in terms of attracting young people to work here.” There are miles of river front “which is just sitting there waiting to be developed,” he added.

Gill left councillors with a few points to ponder until April, when the budget talks begin.

According to the district’s long-term plan, the municipality has to buy land for parks and identify school sites. So why not do so before suburban expansion reaches a certain area and land prices increase.

“At the end of the day, if we don’t acquire the right land at the right time – who suffers?”

Gill suggested creating a fund that would allow the district to buy strategic chunks of land which later could be sold to other agencies, such as the school district, when needed. If the prices went up, the district would pocket the profit.

The previous council also considered such a proposal.

Interest rates also are at “near historic lows,” so the district might consider borrowing to fund certain projects. Currently, the district could borrow $6 million and service that with debt payments of $400,000 yearly, for 30 years. Paving and construction prices also are low.

Coun. Mike Morden liked the ideas.

“We have to look at an investment strategy that can kick-start our community into high gear,” he said.

Coun. Linda King also backed the concepts, but said the district should formalize a policy explaining the strategy so the public is fully aware.

Whatever property the district does acquire, though, must have its purpose clearly identified so neighbours don’t assume the property will be become a park, added Coun. Judy Dueck.

Gill also suggested that another fund be created to pay for parks and recreation facilities. That could replace the fire department levy homeowners pay, which disappears in 2014.

Despite the views for the future, the slump in the housing market has cut the revenue raised from building permit fees. Those have dropped by about $400,000. On the other hand, the district is saving money in its police budget because rookie RCMP constables aren’t yet at the top of their pay scales. It also saved about $200,000 by having the RCMP revise its budgeting processes for officers on long-term disability.

And while the economy’s been sluggish, it’s starting to rebound and there are two new bridges in Maple Ridge, and the district should continue to invest in research and development, its communications department and staff, said Rule. “It’s not a time to be timid. It’s a time to make sure we continually move forward boldly.”

Capital works

Maple Ridge council is continuing on with its ambitious capital works program that next year will ring in with new projects at $29 million, part of a five-year program worth $127 million.

Some of the major projects set for the district’s public works program in 2010:

• Albion dike improvements – $525,000;

• 240th Street and Dewdney Trunk Road – $350,000;

• improving 232nd Street between 124th and 128th avenues – $1.5 million;

• improving the remainder of downtown’s 224th Street between Dewdney Trunk Road and Lougheed Highway, including Lougheed from 224th Street to 222nd Street – $3.1 million;

• equipment replacement – $1.4 million;

• Lougheed Highway, multi-use cycle track – $400,000;

• resurfacing Dewdney Trunk Road between 250th and 256th streets – $350,000;

• acquiring land for park, 221st Street and 119th Avenue – $400,000;

• Albion spray park – $388,500;

• in all, next year about $9.6 million will be spent on improving roads.

In the budget

• Total tax take for 2010 is $53.4 million.

• When interest earnings, fees and reserve earnings are included, the approximate total coming into municipal coffers is $121 million. According to the 2009 financial report, police will take about $16 million of that and the fire department will burn through $6 million.

• The $1.1 million in new money to the district is a result of growth – new homes and businesses.

• The four-per-cent property tax increase will raise another $1.9 million.

• The fire levy that each homeowner pays ($115 for an average home) will bring in another $675,000. But the last year of that surcharge is 2013, when it’s cut in half. By 2014, it’s gone altogether. The charge was levied to pay for the expansion of the fire department to one staffed by both full-time fighters and a paid on-call force. In the meantime, response time for most calls answered by Fire Hall No. 1 have been cut in half to just under five minutes.

• The district has more than $97 million in various reserve or savings accounts allocated for specific purposes.

• Overall, next year, the district will bring in $4.3 million in new money, but that will be gobbled up by:

• higher labour costs – $1.3 million;

• police costs – $300,000;

• fire department – $775,000;

• infrastructure fund – $475,000;

• money that has to go into various reserve accounts, library and other categories account for the rest.

• The district is considering borrowing $15 million over four years to partly pay for such projects as the bridge over the North Alouette River at 232nd Street, as well as the eastward extensions of Abernethy Way, a pump station and water main.

• About $1.3 million a year is going into the infrastructure fund to pay for future repairs of roads, parks and sewers.

• Next year, 2010, Ridge Meadows RCMP will have 84 members, five more than in 2006.