Port Coquitlam residents can soon have their say on what they want to see more - or less - of in next year's city budget.
Over the next few weeks, the municipality will present its draft 2015 budget before launching a public feedback campaign in February, hoping to collect even more opinions than last year.
Nearly 950 PoCo residents took part in the 2014 budget process, shaping the $91-million financial plan, which translated into the first decrease in property taxes on record for PoCo.
This week, department heads were before city council to explain their base budgets for the new year and their wish lists. And nearly all departments are asking for an increase to pay for staff, contracted services, utilities and materials, among other things.
On Thursday, Mayor Greg Moore said council as well as the new budget and infrastructure sub-committee will now crunch the numbers to set priorities, and service cuts or improvements will be proposed to the community to determine the property tax rate.
Moore said council will consider "reduction packages" to keep taxes low, as promised during the election campaign but said that doesn't necessarily mean there will be layoffs.
Asked if council is cutting too deep, Moore responded, "It's a corporate shift. We're looking for efficiencies everywhere that we can and I think that's the appropriate thing to do."
As for 75 vacancies at city hall, Moore said council adopted a policy three years ago to require every full-time job that becomes vacant go through an internal staff review to ensure it's still needed. "That does delay us in hiring sometimes," he said.
Moore said there can be both internal and external factors contributing to the number of projects put on hold this year (development services states, "Several projects were delayed due to a combination of staff vacancies and the re- allocation of senior staff resources to complex development proposals and the Community Recreation Complex Project.").
According to the business plans, which can be seen online at portcoquitlam.ca/budget, city managers are asking for the following increases to their net operating budgets:
office of the chief administrator: 2.6%, to $433,500;
fire and emergency services: 2.3%, to $9.6 million;
corporate support: 9.2%, to $2.7 million;
parks and recreation: 2.2%, to $12.2 million;
RCMP: 1.8%, to $13.2 million;
human resources: 4.7%, to $913,500;
development services: 43.7%, to $1.9 million;
finance: 6.1%, to $1.9 million;
engineering and operations: neutral, at $2.9 million.
Among the projects to be tackled next year are: signing a collective agreement with firefighters; upgrading fire hall No. 2; creating an urban forestry strategic plan; finishing the Lions Park update and monitoring the "ongoing homeless challenges within the park;" starting the official community plan revision; updating the cultural plan and policy; choosing the Fremont connector alignment; rolling out new bear-proof garbage cart locks; and starting the replacement of the PoCo rec complex.
Moore said Coquitlam RCMP has submitted two packages for council's consideration: one for four more Mounties, another for six. But the mayor said he isn't in favour of the latter as crime statistics appear to be decreasing in the ever-growing city.
"Just because you have more people doesn't necessarily mean you need more police or firefighters," he said. "You need to look at the culture of service and where it's required."
Fire Chief Nick Delmonico isn't asking for more staff as the city has hired 10 more firefighters in the past two years, Moore said.
The 2015 budget is to be adopted by mid-May.
To comment on the 2015 budget, call 604-927-5280 or email [email protected]. The public is also invited to hear council discuss future capital projects at a special finance and intergovernmental committee meeting on Monday, Dec. 15 at 2 p.m.
@jwarrenTC
