Council update, April 26, 2009
Hello everyone:
What an interesting week it has been for weather, to be sure. I hope you're all enjoying the opportunity to ski, run, bike and/or birdwatch, often on the same day!
LAND USE BYLAW REVIEW BEGINS
The land use bylaw is important in any town, but it's particularly important here, where we have fixed boundaries, strong opinions about design, questions about density, and so on. The review of our land use bylaw will be going on for the next 18 months or so, but it kicks off on Thursday, April 30, with an open house at council chambers from 4 - 6 pm. You can learn about the process here:
http://www.banff.ca/business/planning-development/land-use-review.htm
... and you can learn more by coming to the meeting and chatting with the team involved. The town's planning staff want to make this process very interactive and take the feedback opportunities out to the neighbourhoods. I'll try to keep you updated on what's happening, because I know that many of you will have opinions and suggestions to offer.
WHAT'S HAPPENING WITH THE BANFF HOUSING CORPORATION?
Council and BHC homeowners are looking at the "workbooks" prepared by the facilitators at Certus, and using the questions provided to prepare some thoughts on issues, interests and values to be protected. Once everyone has done their homework, council will be meeting with homeowners to discuss the issues that pertain most directly to them. Plans are still in the works for a more general community meeting on some of the more general recommendations from the BHC, probably in early June.
TAX ASSESSMENTS
A few of you have written to me with concerns about your tax assessments, questions such as "House prices are dropping -- why is my assessment higher than last year?" Because this seems to be causing some general concern, I thought I'd provide a little background.
The first thing to remember is that the assessment is as of July 15, 2008, so it pretty much catches the peak in house prices. There will be a similar lag if prices go back up in the future - it will take a year or so for your assessment to catch up with them.
The second thing to remember is that higher assessments do not equal higher taxes. The town sets a mill rate that establishes how much tax will be charged per unit of assessment. This year's budget is set up so that the average will be 0% overall property tax increase. Remember though, that is an average. If your property rose in value more than the average home (which went up by around 14.5%) then your property taxes will increase slightly. If your assessment increased by less than that average, then your overall property taxes will decrease slightly. If you're right on the average, you'll be at zero.
SECOND ICE SURFACE
I have also heard from several people recently who are expressing concerns about whether the rec centre renovation will include a second ice surface. (For all of you who are not rec centre users, I'll explain as background that the present centre includes a full-sized arena, curling sheets, and something called the "mini-ice", a half-sized surface suitable for skating).
Council was planning to go ahead with Rec Centre phase one (renovation of the present arena, demolition of the curling/mini-ice section of the building, and rebuilding of four curling sheets and lobby/changeroom spaces) and, if the environmental assessment is approved, phase two (the building of a new hockey-sized rink). We had the funding plans in place and everything was looking good.
However, the province recently announced that they were cutting the level of Municipal Sustainability Initiative (MSI) funding, something that they had formerly referred to as a ten-year commitment.
This leaves us in a quintuple bind:
1. we're told by structural engineering studies that the curling/mini-ice part of the building will reach the end of its habitable lifespan in the near future, so the status quo is not an option.
2. we have to start construction this summer, or we lose $6 million in federal/provincial funding that we already have, so entering a lengthy re-planning process would be a very expensive option.
3. the MSI funding that we were counting on to pay the bill for the rec centre renovation has been diminished, but we cannot get a clear answer yet on how much it may be (or not be) in the next years.
4. people are nervous about the economic climate, and don't want to see their taxes go up for a big borrow.
5. rec centre users are unhappy at the thought of just building phase one, and therefore going from 1 1/2 ice surfaces to just one.
Options for solving this issue will be coming to council on May 11.
WHAT'S HAPPENING WITH HOSPITAL OBSTETRICS?
Things are looking up on the hospital recruitment front, but there is still no set date for the reopening of the obstetrics program. Lots of locals continue to be active in showing their support for the hospital and its obstetrics program - you can find out about their latest activities on Facebook by searching "Bow Valley Residents Supporting Banff's Labour and Delivery Program".
WHAT'S COMING TO COUNCIL ON MONDAY?
You can see the whole council package (all 280 pages of it!) here:
Here are the highlights:
Update on EMS transition
The ambulance service at our hospital is now going to be managed/funded by the province rather than locally (this has been done throughout the province, it wasn't a matter of local choice). The EMS director will be coming to council to brief us on how the changeover is going.
Audited financial statements from 2008 and budget revision for 2009
We're getting some pretty distressing news with our 2008 audited financial statements. Although Council was assured by the town's managers in the September forecast that we would hit the year-end pretty much on budget, the actual result is not what was forecast. We finished 2008 $429,000 in the red.
The town has a reserve fund to cover deficits, but it is not big enough to cover this one. Therefore, council will be asked tomorrow to approve some budget revisions for 2009 to make up the difference while still budgeting to break even at year-end without increasing taxes, and budgeting to rebuild the stabilization reserve fund over the next three years.
To say that I am disappointed with this situation would be putting it mildly. If forecasts that were brought to council had been more accurate, then we might have been able to tighten belts in the second half of 2008 to end the year on target.
The town's managers have proposed various measures to track financials more effectively in 2009, and I will be asking questions about these at council tomorrow. You can see the whole report by clicking on the link to the Council package (above) and scrolling down to page 25.
2009 Tax rate bylaw
Council will be deciding the tax rates, within the overall boundary of a 0% overall property tax increase. I will be asking council to take the commercial/residential tax split to 4:1, which was the level promised during the incorporation referendum. This shouldn't be too difficult, as the present proposal is for 3.935:1. You can see the complete report on this tax rate process in the council package by scrolling down to page 113.
Indexperience summer survey results
The town and the park partnered with Banff Lake Louise Tourism to do a visitor experience survey over the past year, and final results from the summer survey are now available. The results show that people generally think our town is pretty great, but the biggest municipal-related issues for visitors are public washrooms, wayfinding and parking.
Interestingly, the consultants who do the report compare how many people "totally agree" with a positive statement to how many people disagree (which is the sum of those who totally disagree and those who somewhat disagree). In other words, if you "somewhat agree" with a positive statement about the town or park, your results are not highlighted. It's worth keeping this in mind when you look at the numbers.
Those of you who believe that the beauty and environmental values of our national park are our most important tourism assets will be delighted to see how the visitors agree with you!
You can see summaries of the results in the council package, starting on page 128.