Am I the only one in Cochrane who’s unhappy our average tax bill is proposed to go up 1.3 per cent next year? The aura of self-congratulation from our mayor and council is quite unjustified. If the town ran anything remotely close to a tight ship, we should be getting a tax cut.
Let me explain.
First, the operating budget has jumped 7.3 per cent over last year. In fact, costs in the past five years have risen 43 per cent, while our population went up 31 per cent. Costs are more than double from 10 years ago.
The first principle is that operating costs should not match population increases anyway. In Cochrane’s case, they’re even exceeding them by a wide margin. There should be efficiencies in the system to avoid that. For example, we don’t need extra office staff just because the population’s gone up. Maintenance costs shouldn’t change much year-to-year.
The reason why we’ve been lulled into passively accepting a 1.3-per-cent tax hike is that the growth of our tax base has mostly helped pay for this hefty rise in operating costs. It’s the 7.3-per-cent figure that should jump out at us, though.
The mayor and some council members publicly boast that it’s our growth that keeps our taxes low. That is a foolhardy position. Has no one noticed Alberta’s economic health is a bit shaky, or worse? We’re certainly not assured of growth forever. Sooner than later, we’ll slow down or even shrink, but the momentum of higher costs will keep piling on. Watch your tax bill then.
The only acknowledgment I see of this is a lonely sentence in the budget document suggesting that if growth rates change, “Administration would report back to council.” Let’s agree that counting on perpetual growth is a mug’s game.
The largest components of town operating costs are consultants and personnel. Despite my requests, I have never seen consulting costs broken out. For many of the past 10 years and, to predictable eye-rolling from council and administration, I’ve tried to point out that personnel raises are consistently too high.
This year is no exception. Because most staff are in a steadily-rising grid system, they not only get a cost-of-living boost, they receive a grid increase, too. Just taking a few examples from the 2016 budget, I note a 6.5-per-cent spike in personnel costs in protective services. In the fire department, the equivalent figure is 6.4-per-cent, in planning services 6 per cent; and in bylaw enforcement a whopping 13.8 per cent. In all these areas, staff numbers are unchanged.
As in prior years, many Town employees are enjoying pay hikes averaging around six per cent. Not a bad gig. I know most work hard, but so do people in the private sector, getting less than half that if they’re lucky. Movement up the grid is just too automatic.
That’s enough moaning for today. And, don’t get me started on the $231 million in capital spending we’re committed to in the next eight years. I’d just like to see a little more probing and a little less back-slapping by our mayor and council when it comes to the budget process.
Andy Marshall
