Duane Hicks
Faced with dwindling tax revenues due to a reassessment of the mill property here, and not wanting to increase the burden on taxpayers any more than necessary, town council will be looking at reducing services in the 2014 budget.
A straw poll among mayor and council during Monday’s budget meeting showed they’ll only accept a minimal residential tax increase—with opinions ranging from one-three percent.
But in order to keep costs down, division managers will be asked to identify where “soft services,” such as the Memorial Sports Centre, library, or museum can be trimmed.
“Let’s face it—if there’s going to be any cuts, it’ll be the soft services,” said Coun. Paul Ryan.
“We will supply water to the houses, for sure, and we will plow the roads,” he remarked, noting there probably is some adjustments to services that can be made to save money.
But with the mill assessment expected to drop even further in the next couple of years, Coun. Ryan added, “I can’t see any other thing happening than service cuts in this town.
“Or a huge increase in taxes. So there’s the choice.”
Coun. Ryan suggested that council ask the departments to “cut a little bit,” and start looking internally where they can save money.
“Because other than that, the following year or next year, they’re going to have to cut [$100,00] out of the budget,” he warned.
“We should do it in small steps because it’s coming to a theatre near you.”
Coun. Ken Perry agreed that services need to be looked at.
Citing one example, Coun. Perry recalled that over the Christmas break, he was at the pool and witnessed a public swimming lesson where there was a lifeguard on duty ($24/hour in wages) and an instructor in the water ($17/hour) but only one child receiving a lesson (paying $80 for eight weeks of lessons, or $10 per lesson).
He was there a second time and only two children were taking swim lessons—pointing out the pool isn’t breaking even in these situations.
“Where are we going with cost control at the Memorial Sports Centre?” Coun. Perry asked. “[And] that’s only the pool.
“Isn’t there going to be a minimum for numbers of swimmers you’re going to have in the water for swimming lessons before you don’t call them swimming lessons anymore?” he wondered.
Mayor Roy Avis said that in light of the latest job losses at the mill, and the fact the assessments on many properties have been going up, people can’t afford a tax hike.
“What I am hearing from the people in this community is they can’t accept the tax level anymore,” he remarked.
“Yes, there is those people who have full-time jobs and working in certain areas of the community, and they’re good-paying jobs,” he noted.
“But let’s look at the average person in this community.
“I think we have to start taking a look at the service side of it,” Mayor Avis said.
“I think we have to think outside the box and start saying, ‘Hey, what can we do? How can we save money so we’re not going to pass these huge increases onto the taxpayers?’”
Mayor Avis added that last year, even though council passed a small tax increase, some residents’ taxes went up six or seven percent due the fact their property assessment went up—and council must consider that fact when they do this year’s budget.
Coun. Doug Kitowski said he was at the museum for a meeting and after looking at the guest book, he didn’t find it very full of names.
“It doesn’t look very busy to me there,” he remarked. “I don’t think it’s a high-traffic area, probably in October, November, December, January, February, and March. . . .
“So we may have to do something about it.
“I don’t know. Close it down for six months?” Coun. Kitowski questioned.
“I don’t know but we can’t be spending money we haven’t got,” he stressed.
Coun. Perry noted that for the past three years, the library has gone over budget. And this year, the library wants more in its budget than last year and yet is projecting less income than last year.
On the other end of the spectrum, both Couns. Andrew Hallikas and Rick Wiedenhoeft said they’re aware the town is in “tough times” but they don’t want to cut services.
Budget decisions
Council also spent time deciding on various budget requests that were made by groups and individuals back in September.
They agreed to:
•give the Chamber of Commerce $7,500 for tourism and marketing initiatives;
•give $2,000 to the “Peace Pull” with International Falls on July 2; and
•give $1,000 to the Boundary Waters Dragon Boat Festival.
But council turned down a request to help pay for a sidewalk on the west side of Keating Avenue between J.W. Walker School and First Street West, citing that the local public school board should help pay for it but has declined to do so.
Council also declined other budget requests due to lack funds, including new tennis courts, which were budgeted at $224,000, and the demolition of the Rainy Lake Hotel, which in the past was estimated at nearly $1 million.
Coun. Ryan noted that even if grants are available for the demolition of the building, he’s sure it’s on a percentage basis and that the town would have to kick in 30 percent (more than $300,000), which still is too pricey.
“We’ve got time,” he added.
Council agreed to do in-kind work to install new outdoor fitness equipment along the riverfront, but declined to contribute extra money to buy more equipment at this time.
They did express interest, however, in seeing how the two pieces of equipment, which will be bought by a collective of local groups interested in safe recreation opportunities for seniors, will be utilized once they’re installed later this year.
Council made no decision regarding a “Meals on Wheels” grant because it requested updated budget information from that group.
Council also held off regarding 100th-anniversary celebrations of the Salvation Army and the local mill, as it is looking for more specific information as to what the town is being asked to contribute.
Council also cut about $1.8 million in items from the capital budget.
Some of these items included a sand/salt storage building ($528,278), a new sidewalk for the north side of Fifth Street East from Williams Avenue to Colonization Road East ($153,000), and a sidewalk machine with blower attachment ($105,000).
Also axed were a heated shack at the north-end rink ($45,000), a four-wheel drive tractor with cab enclosure and air conditioning/heat ($41,000), a dog park ($30,000), cleaning/painting of the underpass ($25,000), Operations and Facilities manager’s office upgrades ($12,000), and coin-operated door knobs for public washrooms ($3,500).
And council isn’t done with cutting the capital budget yet.
It has gone back to department managers, who have been asked to priorize items in their division from most to least important.
