A quarter three report delivered to council on Monday night reveals a projected surplus of $153,000 for 2017 – over and above revenue shortfalls.
The surplus is largely from planning, supplementary property taxes and franchise fee revenues and will offset budget shortfalls highlighted by policing, the pool and the RancheHouse.
Police fine revenues have come in $300,000 under budget; the town will be billed $120,000 less than budgeted for, as the province covers expenses related to officers on leave.
Executive Leadership Team one-time expenses rang in $95,000 over budget – due to the CAO transition with veteran Julian de Cocq retiring and Dave Devana coming on board, as well as deputy CAO Lori Craig retiring.
There was a $122,000 deficit in RancheHouse revenues. This is attributed to wedding bookings being significantly down from the economy and is anticipated to rebound this year with more bookings and the hiring of a RancheHouse manager, approved in the 2018 budget.
A $65,000 deficit resulted from the now-defunct Big Hill Leisure Pool operating a month longer than budgeted, related to the delay in the opening of the new Jayman BUILT Aquatic Centre at Spray Lake Sawmills Family Sports Centre (SLSFSC).
Mayor Jeff Genung touts the surplus as a positive and has instructed administration that clarity be provided to the public regarding the detailed costs of the SLSFSC pool and curling facility additions, when final numbers become available.
The SLSFSC addition is complete and is estimated to come in at $3.6 million over budget.
Council approved an additional subsidy of $173,443 to SLSFSC to cover the society’s operating deficit for their July 31, 2017 fiscal year-end operating deficit.
Council also moved to reduce the capital budget for the new RCMP station to $3.8 million from $10.8 million, in order to cover off land acquisition and project design costs. Once construction cost estimates are complete, administration will return to council with a capital budget request.
The project scope has changed considerably since its 2011 council approval at $10.8 million, largely due to the incorporation of municipal services in the building, and is now estimated to rise to $17.4 million.
Live Streaming
Following considerable debate, council opted to move forward with administration’s recommended mid-level video capture and streaming system with a budget of $30,000.
Council has also asked to be kept apprised of quotes, inclusive of options for on-site video storage, prior to approval of implementation.
The initiative stems from a motion put forward by Coun. Marni Fedeyko in the fall, which received a $15,000 funding boost in the budget for a total of $40,000.
Fedeyko put the motion forward as a measure of transparency and to better connect residents who wish to be engaged in council meetings but cannot attend in person.
While at first Fedeyko sought to defer making a decision until further cost-effective options could be fleshed out, she was comfortable with moving forward providing costing updates would be communicated in order to ensure council could select the most fiscally prudent option without sacrificing quality.
Coun. Morgan Nagel asserted that cost savings could be achieved if the town looks to existing online storage systems, such as youtube, rather than its own costly system.
Trailers on hold
Coun. Fedeyko has opted to hold off on her intended motion to look at relaxation on the area of the land use bylaw that deals with trailer parking.
Fedeyko said she received a mixed response on the possibility of easing recreation and utility trailer parking restrictions that currently prohibits parking on driveways from fall to spring.
“If I feel confident that I am approving something that will benefit business owners and not add to problems of parking, neighbour disputes and unnecessary calls into bylaw I will bring it back forward. At this time, though, I cannot ask for council support in approving something that appeases a few but angers many.”
Genung said this might be better dealt with when the town overhauls the Land Use Bylaw .
Committees and appointments
Town planning manager has been appointed as a development officer for Cochrane.
Nagel is the council representative on the Subdivision Development Appeal Board. Reed is now the alternate.
This change was prompted by recent changes to the Municipal Government Act, which now mandate that councillors cannot form a majority of the members of an appeal board.
An Annexation Negotiation Committee will see Genung and Reed as town representatives, as the town looks to advance negotiations of two parcels of land from Rocky View County.
The first annexation is for a quarter section located north of Heritage Hills, identified as a future Rocky View Schools site and for additional recreational purposes, possibly soccer fields.
The second is regarding the 40-acre parcel of land north of Sunset Ridge that is privately owned and deemed necessary to build a permanent intersection to address future traffic pressures anticipated for subsequent phases of Sunset by developer Melcor.
