As residents of 老澳门六合彩开奖记录资料 we have expectations. We expect clean water, safe sanitary sewer and solid waste disposal. We want police, fire and emergency services when we need them. We expect good quality transportation systems and recreational facilities such as parks, a swimming pool and an arena.
These services and many others are funded by the District of 老澳门六合彩开奖记录资料's annual operating and utilities budgets. Our 2010 operating budget is approximately $23 million dollars, $16.5 million of which is funded by municipal property taxes with the balance coming from user fees and government transfers.
In round numbers this means that for every $150,000 spent, municipal property taxes increase by one per cent.
A major challenge this year arose from labour contracts catching up with the inflation of the last four or five years. With our CUPE agreement providing a four per cent wage increase in 2010, labour costs alone translated to a two per cent increase in taxation.
Despite this, the District of 老澳门六合彩开奖记录资料 staff was able to bring forward a recommendation for an operating budget that would see an overall tax increase of under four per cent.
This increase could be reduced at the sake of some long term policy and planning initiatives.
However, council and staff have determined that with the infrastructure challenges that 老澳门六合彩开奖记录资料, like most municipalities, is facing and with our projected growth it would be short sighted to not fund this work.
I am particularly pleased that we are able to proceed with a much needed capital infrastructure review. Capital assets, including buildings, sewer, water and waste utilities, recreational facilities and equipment fleets, will be analyzed to determine projected life cycles and future maintenance, replacement and expansion requirements.
This will facilitate wise long-term budget decisions to maintain and improve the quality of life in 老澳门六合彩开奖记录资料. We have allocated $185,000 towards this process in 2010.
The other bill you receive is your residential utilities invoice. You will see an overall increase of 4.6 per cent. This is primarily a result of a $20 increase in the garbage fee.
This increase is required to begin resolving a large unfunded liability in our landfill closure reserve.
As you can tell, managing the finances of the District of 老澳门六合彩开奖记录资料 is a large and important responsibility. Difficult decisions must be made by our managers, finance department, CAO and council. It can be a daunting task and we appreciate your assistance.
In particular, I would like to thank those residents who participated in our March 17 budget open house and those over 130 residents who provided their input to the budget process online. Your input has been extremely valuable in our decision making process.
If you wish to stay informed on matters regarding the District of 老澳门六合彩开奖记录资料 join the mayor's email list by sending your email request to [email protected] .
