19 Dec 2022 Council meeting Economy

2023-2027 Financial Plan Bylaw

Motion

That: 1. "Financial Plan Bylaw 2022 No. 7359" (To confirm and adopt the 2023-2027 Financial Plan) pass first reading; 2. "Financial Plan Bylaw 2022 No. 7359" pass second reading; 3. "Financial Plan Bylaw 2022 No. 7359" pass third reading.

This vote follows the minutes. The City’s vote record differs.

Sources

Agenda itemCity agenda

Staff reportPage 1

Purpose

To introduce “Financial Plan Bylaw 2022 No. 7359” for first, second and third readings.

Staff report, page 1

Staff recommendation

That: 1. “Financial Plan Bylaw 2022 No. 7359” (To confirm and adopt the 2023 – 2027 Financial Plan) pass first reading; 2. “Financial Plan Bylaw 2022 No. 7359” pass second reading; and 3. “Financial Plan Bylaw 2022 No. 7359” pass third reading.

Staff report, page 1

DocumentsStaff report about Economic Development

Ian Thorpe Yes

through you ... I do appreciate the opportunity to have a quick word hi I will be supporting this financial plan bylaw I'm sure a number of people watching or listening are disappointed that our tax ... hike at this point is seven point three percent recognizing that that is not final ... I quite honestly had hoped we would be able to bring forward a lower tax increase this year ... but the city like all individuals in our community has been affected by the rampant inflation that we've experienced so as ms Mercer explained we have a one percent ... levy for infrastructure ... repairs and upgrades which I totally support ... usually we factor into an inflation rate of ... ... maybe between two and three percent in recent years this year inflation was running between six and eight percent so for the city to provide the same level of service ... that our citizens expect and deserve it simply just costs us more ... and Anna I guess my my my hope was that we could find ways of reducing that I have not I have not seen it and we have looked ... the other increased to our ... tax levy was due to the additional hiring in the fire rescue department ... which I totally support as our city is growing very rapidly and we were already I think understaffed in that very important department so ... I I'm sorry to the public that we can't get it lower or we haven't to this point but I do support this I think it's ... I think it's reasonable considering the economic climate that we're

Paul Manly Yes

this time by hi echo some of the things a councillor Greenough has ... highlighted note coming straight out of an election and straight into the into the budget it's hard to get a grasp on everything but I do understand that ... that low taxes over many years has left us with a structural deficit and we've had some problems community I'm just hearing that you know we have seven hundred and seventy called the socks or dead end street for people are are demanding better ... snow removal services ... that kind of ... urban structure ... infrastructure is expensive we we have people that are upset about time ... urban density but dot the facts are that that ... urban sprawl is very expensive and and do you pay for those kind of things with the C. C. costs twenty five years ago and now that infrastructure needs to be renewed and that's an expensive five proposition we also have a lot of demands for public safety and ... and I see that this previous council has put money into our public safety with new police officers and community safety officers and carried from the firefighters who are you know the front line for us and then ... climate change with we we've been extremely lucky in this community not to have ... wildfires around the city of Nanaimo ... like other communities have in British Columbia or in the in the ... western United States but ... you know I fear that some time art our time will come and so I think that investing in firefighters to protect our community in the face of climate change is there an important investment and so we are making investments the previous councillors councils have not made and it's important to end and it's unfortunate that ... that means have to tax increases a but I do look forward to taking a deeper dive as we go forward in hearing what the ... the revenue numbers are actually going to be looking like to see ... you know what we might be able to do with revenue and expenses ... as we as we move forward in this process what Todd thank staff for doing doing this working for educating us on this ... process and ... I will be voting for this thank you

Questions and answers

Councillor Janice Perrino
Yes

asked

thank you worship in a question and a comment through you ... to misperception so we week we come back to this in April I I I get my struggle is this is very tough to yes this for me I I find this I get all of the reasons why I certainly support the reasons that or why were so why we are increasing the staff for the fire department please send me you know I get it all it's an important time to do this but ... a seven point three is out it is a really difficult particularly on young families as well as our seniors are on fixed income so I'm I'm very concerned about that so just just walk me through the process we will look at this again in April in hopes that could it come down is there something that may come forward at that time to help the to come down because I'm I'm hoping for a you know something cool yet not yet yes I guess for me at this point I I'm struggling with yes I agree with the one percent for asset management do I think it's important that maybe we let it go this year because of inflation yeah I think I think we should probably let it go this year that's me and that's my opinion I wish we'd taken some of the reserves that we talked about putting it and reducing the tax tomorrow I'm just struggling with it's just such a high tax rate that I'm struggling so just tell me is that you know what I'm getting at is going to be an op and other opportunity to possibly see this lower before April

Laura Mercer

answeredDirector, Finance

so through your worship yes there is we do come back in April and so estimates for things like gross investment income we will be re looking at those will will not work growth number in March we'll we'll have another look at our investment income because interest rates have been rising and we are getting better rates of return on our investments so we know we're going to have a bit more revenue from there most likely ... of course there's all kinds of estimates that ... we will be looking at again before we bring it back to you in April ... but there are other you know so there are opportunities to for this to come in lower but there are also you know if things like contract negotiations and things like that that can put pressure upwards pressure on things as well so well there are opportunities to bring it down ... you know there are also estimates that could increase as well so at this point I I don't have a crystal ball but I do know what I I do have an idea that it may come down a little bit just due to the the two items that I've just mentioned so maybe there's Sam something

followed up

small American there is an and I just wanna say for for of my comments you know I have to say I thank you so much for spending time with me to personally go over because I couldn't I couldn't understand where it came from and it was shocking to see the number we we literally got elected and walked into a six point two before we did any staff increases that particularly for the fire department so that for me was absolutely shocking so I really appreciate the help that you gave me an and as second as I am all support this now but I'm not so sure about April how it goes I'm hoping for some changes thank you