City faces tough budget choices as it weighs big bills versus big picture
By Brent Mazerolle
Times & Transcript Staff
Published Friday November 16th, 2007
Appeared on page A1
Casino, convention centre, courthouse, curbs, concerts, Codiac RCMP, council. This is a story of Moncton and the seven C's, as well as all the other costs of running a city from A-Z.
It is also the story of the big T. Property taxes are ever rising, but so are public expectations that Moncton keep moving forward. We want the sexy things like downtown development and entertainment, recreation, arts and culture, but we also want to keep on top of housekeeping stuff like roads and protective services.
The question then is how will our municipal leaders walk the minefield of public expectations with an election coming this spring?
While the bill for the planned courthouse is not a municipal responsibility, it's part of the overall development strategy for downtown, which is bound to cost the city plenty. On the other hand, it might cost the city even more to remain stalled on that and other growth opportunities.
Just as yesterday's release of the 2007 property assessments makes a discussion of where the city is going and how it's paying a timely one, so is the report by PKF Canada being presented to city council Monday night on the feasibility of a convention centre. The consultants were also asked to look at whether such a centre should also be paired with a casino, another timely subject since the provincial government unveiled its gaming strategy last week.
City of Moncton spokesman Paul Thomson agreed yesterday council faces a classic dilemma when deliberations on the 2008 budget begin in early December. It's the big bills versus the big picture for council.
"If you look at our economic strategy of attracting knowledge-based professionals from their early 20s to 44, they're becoming more selective because they can be," he said.
Thomson said members of this group, long identified as necessary to the city's long-term survival because they can offset out-migration and our aging population, are choosing the cities they will live in by looking primarily at lifestyle factors.
"You don't move to a city because the asphalt, the police, fire, and sewers are good. Those are the basic expectations, the baseline," he said. "What they want are livable cities."
Thomson said therefore the softer services like providing parks and healthy neighbourhoods and a sense of excitement are the ones that make the difference to those looking for a place to raise their families.
"We've got momentum right now and we've got to capitalize on it," Thomson said.
Dr. Geoff Martin, a political scientist at Mount Allison who specializes in municipal governance, is not so sure Moncton or other councils should be pursuing growth so aggressively that taxpayers feel the pain even in these overall good times.
Martin contends, even without increasing tax rates, and because of assessment increases, municipal governments in southern New Brunswick in particular have been experiencing revenue windfalls. He argues there is significant discontent over some of the ambitious projects that local governments have been pursuing. He sees it as arising in part from a tax-revolt, in part from objections to secrecy in local government, and in part from the fact there is little sign of municipal reform on the horizon.
"Even when there's not a lot of visible discontent, people sometimes vote for change," he warned. Martin thought the level of distrust arising from New Brunswick having the weakest and most antiquated municipalities act in the nation was also bad news for elected officials.
Our conflict of interest legislation is the weakest in the country, along with Prince Edward Island's. The lack of campaign financing rules at the municipal level raises the spectre of abuse in the public eye, since anyone can donate any amount of money to a municipal candidate without dollar limits or even the need to disclose the fact. And while the City of Moncton has made great strides toward openness and transparency under the current city council, the fact remains there is little bite in provincial law to ensure that, Martin argued.
"You can get more information from the province than from municipal governments, even though municipal governments are the ones supposed to be closer to the people," he said.
On the other hand, he said, "the perceptions people have of their communities matter. Municipal leaders are helped if they can show accomplishments," have been made with money spent, he said. "But if there's a perception of lost opportunities, they will have difficulty."
Whatever Moncton's council should decide at budget time and whether they reap rewards or pay the price come election time, Paul Thomson said there are some set numbers they have no choice but to work with. Every cent the city raises or lowers the tax rate adds up to $500,000 on the balance sheet.
And the bottom line, Thomson said, is, "eighty per cent of our revenue is from property tax."
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