Windsor faces tight budget decisions

By Jennifer Hoegg

The Hants Journal/NovaNewsNow.com

Rising expenses, declining revenues and a long wish list makes for tight municipal finances.

Windsor council will make tough decisions this month. CAO Louis Coutinho and finance director Douglas Armstrong gave councillors their first look at this year’s draft budget April 15.

While residents may be happy that the proposed budget meets council’s commitment to lower property taxes and maintenance of core services, not every spending request can be granted. Several requests for funding, tax exemptions and grants did not make the list.

Council still has to discuss and decide on the budget, but there doesn’t look to be much wiggle from for changes. Coutinho pointed out that, during the budget preparation process, staff tried “painstakingly to meet council priorities in a very difficult year.”

In line with provincial requirements that municipal budgets be balanced, Windsor’s total expected revenue and expenses match perfectly, each coming in at $5,880,520.

Residential taxpayers will see a rate drop from 1.99 per cent to 1.87 per cent, while commercial rates stay steady at 3.09 per cent.

The largest expense category is protective services. This year’s cost for police, fire, bylaw enforcement, emergency measures comes in at $1,567,580, almost 27 per cent of the total budget.

Debt-servicing costs will spike this year from $282, 247 to $368,441 in 2008-2009. While the cost of principal and interest payments are expected to drop in future years, only if the town doesn’t borrow any further funds.

On the revenue side, most cash comes from property taxes- more than 80 per cent.

Windsor is more dependent on tax revenue than most municipalities, Coutinho noted.

Big challenges

Dependency on tax revenue is a major challenge for the town, Coutinho and Armstrong pointed out. Council’s guidelines to staff are clear: service levels must be maintained and the tax rate should go down. With those restrictions and the new provincial cap on property assessments, the traditional source of revenue will continue to decline.

The staff document states that the town has “reached a crossroads” and will need to generate revenue from other sources, such as user fees, or raise tax rates in order to meet expense pressures.

Council’s wish list for new capital investments cannot be paid for by current revenue sources.

Expenses for core services are up 4.5 per cent. In addition to rising cost of debt, aging infrastructure, increasing cost of construction costs, and unforeseen spending needs, including emergency funding for the tourist bureau, pose challenges to the town’s spreadsheet.

Council has a long list of other priorities, from infrastructure to transit -- not all of which made the list this year.

For example, the cost of a new sewage treatment plant and hoped for fire station are not included in this year’s books.

Coutinho pointed out that a key challenge for council is differentiating between perceived and real needs. A long-term planning strategy and financial reserves are crucial if financial sustainability is to be maintained

Council deliberations on the draft budget began at the regular monthly meeting April 22. If further discussion is required, time is set aside April 28, 29 and 30.

All budget deliberation sessions are open to the public.