BANFF – Banff residents are facing a 10.66 per cent tax increase.
On Monday (Jan. 9), the governance and finance committee wrapped up about 54 hours of meetings over a total of eight days reviewing municipal services and programs to get to the 10.66 per cent increase, which equates to about an extra $10 per month or $121 a year on an average dwelling assessed at $467,000.
The final operating budget, with a total municipal levy of almost $22.5 million, will be discussed Wednesday, Jan. 19.
Mayor Corrie DiManno said this has been a difficult budget year, with a big focus on municipal staff, trying to meet environmental and livability goals, and being creative with visitor pay parking and economic recovery reserves to try to ease the tax burden on residents.
“A big focus this year is staff and making sure our organization is sustainable into the future. We have relied heavily on staff and we have not been compensating them appropriately, and that’s a big part of the increase, but a very important part,” she said.
“Yes, when you look at the percentage it can seem significant, but I like to look at the $10 per month, and to think of what we provide for the extra costs is quite extraordinary, so with all this work, I am comfortable with where we sit.”
By far the most contentious area in the proposed budget is several new staff positions, totalling more than $700,000 in 2023 with delayed start dates and increasing to $950,000 in 2024. However, a new municipal enforcement position is expected to more than pay for itself through fine revenue.
An additional $821,000 is earmarked to bring employee wages in line with comparable municipalities based on a third-party report. Already built into the operating budget is a 5.4 per cent cost-of-living increase for staff.
Based on another independent report, a nod of approval has been given to new positions in finance, communications, and IT to meet the existing work demands.
Other new positions include an RCMP officer, fire chief, training-FireSmart officer, municipal enforcement officer, and cemetery coordinator.
MNP consultants completed a staffing analysis and determined the finance, IT, communications and marketing departments operated with fewer full-time positions than comparable municipalities of Canmore, Cochrane, Airdrie, Stony Plain, Whistler and Beaumont.
“The results of the staffing resource analysis and benchmarking study suggest that, to varying degrees, the finance, information technology, and communications and marketing departments have a staffing gap to complete the current and foreseeable future workload,” the consultants concluded.
A one per cent municipal tax increase raises just over $202,300 in taxes.
Full-time permanent positions at the Town of Banff have gone from 135.7 in 2016 to 171.67 in 2022, while part-time, casual and term positions increased from 112.3 in 2016 to 116.50 – for a total headcount of 288.25 in 2022 compared to 248 in 2016.Couns. Ted Christensen and Hugh Pettigrew tried to scrap four of the positions – the three recommended by the consultant plus the cemetery coordinator – in a bid to get the tax increase down below 10.66 per cent.
“It’s time we scaled back on expectations so staff can do what we ask of them with the resources we have,” said Christensen.
Pettigrew was unsuccessful in his attempt to use more money from visitor pay parking revenues to help ease the tax impact on residents. He was also out of luck when wanting council to phase in over three years the $821,000 identified to fill the wage gap.
He said he appreciates that additional services and programs require extra staff and that staff must be compensated fairly, but reiterated many times that he believes council has not done enough to help residents against the tax hike.
“I see young families struggling, $10 a month may not be much for some, but it’s a lot for some young families,” said an emotional Pettigrew.
“I think we have a responsibility to do more to contain this one more year… not all of us are rowing in the same boat before, during and after the pandemic."
Coun. Grant Canning said Banff is not the same municipality in 2023 as it was in 1990 and 2010, pointing to additional expenses such as the hefty price tag associated with dealing with the cybersecurity attack as one example and increasing service on Roam public transit.
“I honestly think our residents are expecting more as we go through this, and when you have higher expectations you need more staff to address those expectations,” he said.
DiManno said it is up to council to ensure residents are getting the levels of services they expect from the municipality.
“If we don’t focus on our staff, those levels will begin to crumble and we’re going to have a hard time retaining current staff,” she said.
Chris Hughes, the director of corporate services for the Town of Banff, said the municipality is still trying to work its way back up following a 17 per cent decrease in municipal taxes in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
He said this is the first time since 2019 that Banff is back above the 2019 tax levels.
“This would represent an 8.2 per cent total increase in taxes between 2019 and 2023, which is an annual compounded increase of two per cent per year,” he said.
“The average Alberta CPI rate over that period is 2.7 per cent, and in the last four years we’ve offered a number of new services at an inflationary rate below the average rate of inflation for a basket of goods in the province.”
Aside from the $500,000 transfer to the operating budget, visitor paid parking revenues will go towards increases in snow and ice clearing, additional Roam service on Route 3, and hiring a consultant to outline a case for a land swap with Parks Canada for an intercept parking lot on the east entrance of town.
The economic recovery reserve – money from the province due to the pandemic – will help pay for a partially grant-funded municipal planning intern, Banff Avenue pedestrian zone improvements this summer, and concept design and community consultation for a permanent downtown pedestrian zone.
“We are still welcoming and accepting any and all feedback on the budget,” said DiManno.
