City tackles operations, utilities and waste management portions of 2017 budget

Dec 7, 2016 | 7:00 PM

Residents will likely see an increase on their utility bills next year.

The draft budget for North Battleford in 2017 includes a three per cent increase for residents’ water and sewer utility rates, which City Manager Jim Puffalt said is fairly consistent with what others will see across the province.

“A lot of the cost we don’t have control over,” he said. “Utility rate increases are going to come, we can’t control that. We’re controlling what we can and we’re trying to make a reasonable increase to taxpayers.”

Puffalt pointed to increased costs for the city to operate its facilities as the reason behind the increases. The city has a base rate and consumer rate for utilities, both of which are subject to the three per cent increase, so residents can partially control how much they’re paying on the consumer side by controlling their water use.

Residents will also see an increase in fees for curbside garbage and recycling collection for the first time in three years, also due to costs associated with the recycling and waste facilities. The garbage collection fee will increase from $9 per month per homeowner to $10, and recycling will increase from $6 per month per homeowner to $6.60.

City council went over the draft 2017 budgets for the departments of operation and maintenance services, waste management services, water utility services and sanitary sewer services on Dec. 5 in the second of three budget deliberations.

Puffalt said a highlight from operations in next year’s budget is the placement of thermoplastic lines on 100th St. from 20th Ave. to 14th Ave. Thermoplastic bonds to the road surface and doesn’t wear off like traditional painted road lines, so it eliminates the need for repainting three times per year, he said.

“We’re really excited to see how it works out,” Puffalt said. “Anytime we don’t have to be out in the middle of traffic doing something that gets worn off quite rapidly is a good thing for us.”

He said the thermoplastic lines would repay themselves in a few years by cutting out the need for repainting. If the project is successful, the city will look into using thermoplastic lines on other major streets in North Battleford.

Changes will also be coming to the city’s airport. The runway will continue to be resurfaced and the airport refueling station is getting new fuel pumps. The city is also looking to hire a part-time airport manager to assist in directing airport operations. According to the budget document, as Transport Canada rules have become tougher and require more paperwork, staff is not able to keep up. The new airport manager would work one week per month, possibly cycling through similar positions at other airports.

The final budget meeting will be Wednesday, Dec. 7. Presentations will include fire and protective services, general government services, UPAR and select grantees. Puffalt said the next step after Wednesday will be to see if council wants more discussion on any items in the budget or to start on preliminary approval.

 

Sarah Rae is battlefordsNOW’s court and crime reporter. She can be reached at Sarah.Rae@jpbg.ca or tweet her @sarahjeanrae.