While Black Diamond councillors agree a tax increase is needed to tackle growing operating costs in 2020, they struggled to agree on how much.
At its Oct. 16 meeting, town council set its operational spending guidelines for 2020 at a 1.5 increase over last year for its operational budget and 1.75 per cent increase in wages in a split vote.
The rates provide administration a guideline as it goes into 2020 before the budget is completed in the spring.
The approved increases are lower than the recommendation set out by administration, which suggested two per cent for both items. Chief administrative officer Sharlene Brown said two per cent is about the average projected increase in expenses the Town will face next year from accounting to recycling.
“Everything is going up and the grants are going down,” she told council. “We still have a municipality to operate at the end of the day and that’s what it comes down to.”
Brown expressed to council the importance of a wage increase.
“We can’t hire people based on the salaries we’re paying,” she said. “We’re already without a legislative assistant for over six months. Going through the interviews, wage is a big piece of that for what the expectations of the jobs are.”
Coun. Daryl Lalonde, who voted against the motion, was set on an increase of 1.8 per cent for operating costs and 2.2 per cent for wages.
“I would like to see the wages go up,” he said. “There’s more cost increases and we’re looking at cutting further back. If we ask (employees) to work harder with less money in their budget to do things you have to reward them.”
Coun. Ted Bain, who supported the motion, said employees are the Town’s most valuable resource.
With the cost of living increase ranging from 1.3-2.41 per cent, Bain said the increase should be well above 1.5 per cent.
“I certainly support a little bit more going towards the wage and perhaps a little bit less towards the operating budget,” he said. “It’s not easy to cut your operating budget, but if we do have to cut something it means that maybe a street doesn’t get plowed once or twice or the grass doesn’t get cut once or twice. If you lose people there’s a lot more of a cost.”
On the other end of the spectrum, councillors Brian Marconi and Veronica Kloiber voted against the motion, saying increases in operating costs and wages shouldn’t exceed one per cent.
“Life outside is still pretty tough for a lot of people,” said Marconi.
Marconi said many businesses are reducing staff.
In addition, Woodmaster Homes built five homes this year, compared to more than double that last year, he said
“Working for him, I’ve had my hours cut back by 50 per cent and my wage cut by 20 per cent,” he said. “That tells you how drastic things are.”
As for Black Diamond’s operating costs, Marconi said rather than cut services administration should find ways to provide services by changing the process.
Kloiber agreed.
“I’m going to side with Brian,” she said. “We should find efficiencies.”
Coun. Jackie Stickel asked council how the town can afford basic increases while trying to move ahead on new projects.
“It turns out that we end up having to cut some type of service somewhere,” she said. “We cannot continue to use our reserves to operate. We have to have some kind of savings account or back up.”
Council approved a 2.15 per cent increase a year ago, yet administration scaled it back resulting in a 1.67 per cent increase over 2018, Mayor Ruth Goodwin told council.
Black Diamond’s operating budget increased by one per cent in 2018 and saw no increase in 2017, she said.
“We’re going to be experiencing cost increases across the board,” Goodwin told council. “We don’t have a provincial budget before us to help guide a decision-making process.”
When Goodwin asked Brown if she feels administration could manage a 1.7 per cent increase in its operating budget, Brown said it wouldn’t be enough.
Goodwin said she understands the lower-than-requested operating budget increase will be a challenge.
“I appreciate that administration has come up with these figures,” she said. “Unfortunately, the reality of our situation right now and the perception of council is that we can’t afford a two per cent increase. We’re close enough that I think this is a reasonable compromise.”
