Feb 15,2011 Finance Committee

 
Agenda      Minutes
 
 
4.1  Budget Town Hall Meeting Agenda review
 

4.1 Budget Town HallMeeting Draft Agenda, Questions for Public and Review of PowerPoint Presentation

Questions for Public

The Chair called for comments from the Committee regarding the questions to be included on the public input
form for the 2011 Budget Town Hall Meeting.
The Committee agreed that they would like to see questions similar to those asked in 2010 and include question 2 from the 2009 questionnaire, "What one service (or other services) would you be willing to pay more for?"
It was requested that the question appear as a part of question 1 from the 2010 questionnaire as a "part btl .
They also requested that possible revenue sources be identified as part of question 2, such as "Other cities currently use funding sources that we could explore such as user fees, paid parking, higher user fees for sporting fields, etc."
Moved, seconded and DEFEATED
THAT a specific question is added to the 2011 Budget Town Hall Meeting public input form, "Would you support pay parking at the recreation centre and Rocky Point Park?"
Voting Against: Councillor Rockwell, Mayor Trasolini,Councillor Dilworth, Councillor Elliott, M. Price, Councillor Lahti
Moved, seconded and CARRIED
THAT a question be included on the 2011 Budget Town Hall Meeting public input form, "Do you think the City should investigate the possibility of pay parking in certain areas of the city? If so in which areas?"
Voting Against: Councillor Rockwell, Councillor Lahti,Councillor Clay, M. Price
Discussion ensued on the wording of question 3 from the 2010 questionnaire, in whether a broader or more specific question would solicit more useful feedback from the
public. Several suggestions were made including, "Do you have suggestions as to ways the City could adjust the budget?"; "Do you support subsidized user fees for Recreation facilities?" As well as "Would you support investigating a different structure other than subsidized user fees for recreation?"
Moved and seconded
THAT the question, "The City currently subsidizes parks and recreation programs and their use. Do you support this, or a 100% cost recovery method, or something in between?"
Moved, seconded and CARRIED
"THAT the motion be amended to include a clarifier in the middle that references that all park, trail, dog park, recreation facility, and sports field use is subsidized by the City."
Voting Against: Councillor Clay, Councillor Lahti, Councillor Nuttall
Discussion ensued on the motion as amended regarding the benefits and risks associated with being too specific in the wording of the question and the benefits of bringing to the public's attention that a significant portion of the budget goes to providing Parks and Recreation services.
The question on the motion as amended was put and DEFEATED.
Voting against: Councillor Elliott, Councillor Lahti, Mayor Trasolini, Councillor Rockwell, and J. Hulbert

DRAFT 2011 Budget Town Hall Meeting Agenda
The Director of Corporate Services provided background on proposed agenda. The Committee agreed to the proposed agenda and discussion ensued on the room configuration.

Draft Budget Town Hall Meeting PowerPoint Presentation
The Committee reviewed the draft PowerPoint presentation.
The Committee asked that the Debt Incurred Per Capita slide be shown immediately after the referendum-related slide.
Discussion ensued related to how best show the Tax Increases in Current Year slides which display options to adjust the tax rate to collect the required funds to make the $1 million payment which will be required in 2013 for the proposed new fire hall if the referendum passes in April.
The three alternatives include a tax increase to collect the funds in one year, and another with the funds collected in 2011 and 2012, and another with funds collected in 2012 and 2013.
Moved and seconded
THAT a slide be added,"Should the referendum pass, here are 3 options to be considered by the Finance Committee for taxation options to fund the Fire Hall debt payments".
Discussion on the motion ensued and a friendly amendment was agreed to, changing "3" to "4" as it was agreed that an additional model be shown which spreads the collection period over 2011, 2012 and 2013.
The question on the motion as amended was put and CARRIED with the final motion reading,
THAT a slide be added,"Should the referendum pass,here are 4 options to be considered by the Finance Committee for taxation options to fund the Fire Hall debt payments".
 
Discussion ensued on the appropriateness of including developer levies as a revenue source in the Budget Options:Increase Revenues slide as the current OCP calls for zero growth. In response to questioning, staff responded that although the City is not currently planning for increased growth in the near future, there are still ongoing discussions for smaller community contributions.

Moved, seconded and DEFEATED
THAT "leverage developer contributions" be removed from Budget Options: Increased Revenues slide.
Voting Against: Councillor Lahti, Mayor Trasolini,Councillor Dilworth, Councillor Rockwell, M. Price, J. Hulbert, Councillor Elliott

The Mayor requested that the Finance Committee be adjourned in order to hold the In Camera Council meeting as several Councillors had time constraints.
Moved, seconded and CARRIED
THAT the meeting be adjourned.