Department heads and cultural groups lined up before Coquitlam council Monday and Tuesday with their post-Christmas wish lists for the 2019 budget — requests that would mean, if they are all granted, a 3.8% property tax hike.
Finance manager Michelle Hunt told council Monday morning retaining everything that’s in the 2018 operating budget in 2019 would require a .72% increase for a base budget of $265.13 million.
But city staff asked council’s finance committee for a total of 34 service enhancements that would come with a price tag of $3.9 million, and 14 more with a “net zero” effect on the budget.
If council says yes to all of its city staff requests, it would add another 2.74% to the property tax increase, with an additional .34% to satisfy asks from 12 cultural organizations.
But if the final budgets of the previous five years are any indication, council is likely to say no to a few requests in order to keep the property tax increase below 3%. During that span, the biggest bump council has approved was 2.95% in 2013. Since then, the hike gradually declined to 2.06% in 2018, which was an election year.
The longest wish list came from parks, recreation and culture, which asked council for 13 service enhancements carrying a price tag of $966,200. At the top of department manager Raul Allueva’s list was funds to hire a facility development manager to plan upcoming major projects like Place Maillardville, the new YMCA in Burquitlam, a northeast Coquitlam recreation centre and a community centre for the planned Fraser Mills project, which will involve extensive negotiations with the developer, Beedie Living.
“I see this as a very important position overseeing the state of these facilities,” Allueva told council. He added that the hire would help determine the sequence and timing of building those major projects.
Among his other requests were a community recreation manager ($149,200), a parks community manager ($149,200) an event coordinator ($88,600), community centre recreation leaders, and positions to improve service at its facilities. Allueva also asked for eight net-zero enhancements.
But he got some pushback from council in saying the changes would not cost the city any more money. Coun. Dennis Marsden said it was a stretch to say there would be no added dollars because the determination was based on projected revenue.
“I really struggle with those net zeros. It’s not money we’re spending right now, it’s money from future revenues. The revenue is not guaranteed and [there is a possibility] we’re going to have the expense,” said Marsden.
But Hunt said the city is already seeing some of the anticipated revenue to pay for the changes is coming in. Mayor Richard Stewart said given the divergent interpretations, it might be time for council to have a discussion about the definition of "net zero" for future budgets.
Planning department head Jim McIntyre asked for six items totalling $547,000. Among his asks were requests for planners to help in the pre-application stages for developers and another to make the process more efficient. McIntyre said although applications for building permits and rezoning applications actually declined last year, their complexity increased.
He said the city is seeing fewer single-family home builds and more large, complex applications.
“There are a range of issues that need to be addressed with those projects,” said McIntyre. “We want to raise the bar of urban design, building design. We want to improve on the quality of development in Coquitlam.”
McIntyre also wants $143,000 to develop a city centre plan, a housing affordability strategy and a southwest Coquitlam housing review.
Council is expected to make its final budgetary decisions in March.
