The city of Owen Sound has to change the way it delivers its services and plans for future infrastructure needs.
That message was heard loud and clear at a day-long pre-budget meeting on Monday at the Harry Lumley Bayshore Community Centre.
The city is currently looking at a proposed budgetary increase of just under 7 per cent.
That’s higher than an earlier proposal of about 4.5 per cent, but it’s because of a jump in the capital budget which should help to address infrastructure projects that simply must be done.
Council accepted a recommendation by Director of Financial Services Wayne Ritchie, who pointed out that the city could have one-time access to interest from the sale many years ago of Georgian Bay Energy.
Since the sale of the utility, the principal has generated interest which has been used to finance various projects like the Big Dig.
That’s now been paid for and, because a debenture to help pay for the new Regional Rec Centre will not kick in until 2013, it means that between 450 and 500 thousand dollars is available in 2012.
Most of the city’s infrastructure is at least 30 years old and in some cases it dates as far back as the early 1900’s.
Council and staff are determined to reduce the amount of borrowing the city does for infrastructure, and will look instead at public-private partnerships to help pay for future projects.
Also, as debentures come off the expense lists, the plan is to transfer the money from those payments into a capital reserve fund.
The city will also embark on a comprehensive study of how it provides services like waste management, snow removal and transit.
Residents won’t notice any significant changes right away, but the study is likely to determine that winter maintenance and transit are unsustainable services in their present forms.
The city’s ongoing financial challenges include a cut of more than 100 thousand dollars from grants it receives from the province, and an operating budget largely made up of wages, benefits and insurance costs.
This was the second pre-budget session of the fall, and two more are planned for December.
