Just what will council’s priorities be for the coming year?

Some of that will be revealed this morning when they set their priorities for the coming budget deliberations. The special committee of the whole meeting starts at 11 a.m. Watch for the live blog to start then as well.

The agenda for this morning is just one sheet, giving little to report on just yet, though there’s space for late items from the mayor, council and city manager.

Before council get to their priorities the chief financial officer, Colin McClure, will give a verbal report on the 2011-2015 financial plan, which was completed last year.

To see the agenda, such as it is, click this link to download the PDF.

The live blog starts below.

11:08 a.m.

Council has changed things around a bit this morning, sitting around a table at the back of council chambers. City staff have confiscated the usual media table but innovation is my middle name (Christopher Innovation Shepherd) and I’m using a stack of chairs to type on.

11:10 a.m.

They’ve started. No late items. In attendance are Mayor John Dooley and councillors Bob Adams, Robin Cherbo, Deb Kozak, Paula Kiss and Candace Batycki. Coun. Donna Macdonald is absent. From staff there’s Kevin Cormack, city manager, Colin McClure, chief financial officer, Dave Wahn, city planner, and Frances Long, manager of admin and legislative services.

4a) Verbal update on the 2011-2015 Financial Plan Update

Kevin Cormack, city manager, says they’re still compiling the details and so the budget process (which lasts weeks) will get more detailed when more detailed information is available.

“Our finances are fairly complicated,” says Cormack, warning the new councillors the coming days won’t be overly straightforward. He encourages them to ask as many questions as they can to be clear.

McClure says he feels as a city Nelson is healthy financially. He also says previous councils have ensured the city has been setting aside money for capital costs, ensuring they’re able to buy new equipment when necessary without affecting operations.

“We seem to be really positive in setting aside money so when we have to buy a new dump truck, we can,” says McClure.

The city’s debt levvy dropped, which means the taxes didn’t go as high as were planned, says McClure. (see more on that below)

On the city’s fees, there wasn’t too much income. There wasn’t as much development which lead to to this, McClure says.

Some interesting information: the parking fine revenue is down $20,000, which McClure attributes to the fact they had a bylaw officer out with an injury.

The parking fines pay for bylaw officers and revenue from parking meters goes to other places in the budget.

More on the debt levvy

Batycki asks McClure to explain more about the taxes.

Cormack says there was a three per cent tax increase last year and on top of that there’s a debt, which they ultimately cover through taxation.

So because some of debt was paid off last year, earlier than planned, not as much taxes had to be collected, says Cormack.

Lighter coins pose a problem for parking meters

One problem coming down is the Canadian Mint is changing the weight of loonies and quarters. This is an issue for the city as the parking meters measure the weight of the coins dropped in to determine what coins were put in. The city has to look into the costs of re-calibrating their parking meters.

An added problem is the fact people will be using old and new coins in the same parking meters.

The report from city staff on the impact of this is due out in the next couple of weeks. They don’t know how soon out this is going to happen.

Fewer business licenses issued last year

They were under budget on business license revenue. McClure says this is a sign of a downturn in the number of businesses in the community.

McClure says as a city employee now (he started last year) he’s starting to notice more whether a business in Nelson has a business licence. He had an amusing story about a new business in Nelson that brought some of their products as a way to promote themselves (a sweet treat) and it prompted staff to wonder whether he had a business license. He didn’t and staff then called him up to let him know he had to buy one.

Bad luck for that guy.

11:31 a.m.

Last year the city was short $750,000 in their budget. They balanced that by some cuts to the fire department and police department (not replacing retiring members) and some other cuts.

Right now, they’re looking at a $500,000 shortfall, says McClure. It’s less because of the cuts they planned last year. They still have a shortfall to make up because of less revenue from parking meters and other revenues.

Batycki asks why the parking meters have been short. McClure says it’s a good question. They had to pay HST on parking meters, so the city didn’t get the full benefit of doubling the parking rates.

McClure says $325,000 of that half million shortfall is due to negotiated salary increases, which can’t be avoided.

The above was all under the city’s operating budget.

Looking at utilities, McClure says they’re relatively self-contained. When they set the utility rates, that money is used to fund that utility, he explains.

11:43 a.m

The city didn’t win an application to the UBCM Gas Tax fund to cover $375,000 for a water treatment plant. That would’ve covered a third of the cost of a plant needed to meet Interior Health requirements for water treatment.

Nelson Hydro

The upgrade to the downtown power system is on budget and going well.

Debt

They paid off some debt early last year and McClure says council has to decide whether they want to take on some more or enjoy having less debt.

Batycki asks what the city’s plan is on debt. McClure says most of the city’s debt relates to Selkirk College and FortisBC. It’s supported debt, and supported by Selkirk College and FortisBC. Taxpayers aren’t paying that debt.

Nelson has low debt compared to other cities, says McClure.

11:59 a.m.

Coun. Robin Cherbo just excused himself. He has another meeting to attend.

There are some changes to the Nelson and District Youth Centre. The federal government has pulled some of their funding which will make it a challenge to keep the centre going. The feds paid some rent for using part of the building.

McClure says he’s also seen a trend of under-budgeting city parks and they’ll have to review that.

12:10 p.m.

Now they’re breaking for lunch. Back in 45 minutes.

12:59 p.m.

They’re about to start up again after lunch. Everybody is back, including Cherbo. Macdonald is still absent.

4b) Council priorities

Cormack says what they’re trying to get a sense of here is first a review of the 2011 strategic priorities. Some of those projects and priorities (like the downtown and waterfront master plan) are done and staff need to know where council wants the funds shifted to.

Dooley says Cormack is heading into an important subject: planning. The city has witnessed planning to a certain point and then it gets left off, maybe not followed through as it should be.

(Trouble: Council just said this meeting will run until 4 p.m. or so and I have a prior meeting set for 2 p.m. Sorry, reader, I’ll have to leave early).

Cormack is reviewing some of the problems and challenges facing the city.

One is the city hasn’t been setting aside enough money to upgrade and maintain their buildings. The building housing the Nelson and District Youth Centre is one building that is facing a serious funding crunch given the federal government pulling a program from there that was paying rent.

There are more park spaces that are minimally maintained (like Prince Phillip Park, on Selby Street) and others that could be maintained more. What will council’s goals be, asks Cormack.

(Time to leave for my other meeting.)