Council begins two days of budget reviews
By Lethbridge Herald on November 12, 2024.
Darrell Mathews, the City's Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer, speaks to media outside council chambers Tuesday about today's budget review discussions which start at 9:30 a.m.
Herald photo by Al BeeberAl Beeber – LETHBRIDGE HERALD – abeeber@lethbridgeherald.com
Lethbridge city council acting in its capacity as Economic and Finance Standing Policy Committee starts two days of budget review sessions this morning at City Hall.
The budget review begins at 9:30 a.m. each day in council chamber. Today’s will start with an introduction by Chief Financial Officer and treasurer Darrell Mathews.
In his opening address, Mathews will give the SPC an overview of current economic conditions and the impact they have on the City’s financial position and financial resources.
He will also provide the SPC – which consists of the mayor and all council members – with a forecast of operating budget variance for this year based on operations to Sept. 30 including preliminary year-end projections to Dec. 31.
“The economic update presentation will highlight pressures that currently exist in the operating and capital budgets. The presentation will give Economic and Finance SPC options and tools to assist with future financial decisions to continue to meet the needs of the growing community,” says a synopsis of Mathews’ presentation.
Mathews’ presentation today will look at various data including overnight bank rate changes throughout the year, an analysis of the local labour market and total employment, Lethbridge housing starts, tax increases and a look at the city economy which includes residential construction, lot supply, land developer outlook, and permit, development and licence revenues.
His presentation will also examine pressures on City utilities and risks facing water and wastewater capacity.
After Mathews speaks, the SPC will hear presentations from Chief of Fire and EMS Greg Adair, Community Social Development general manager Andrew Malcolm along with numerous submissions which are scheduled during the two days from representatives of City departments and others.
Both of these presentations are scheduled after the 10th submission which will be by Mathews talking about the Local Government Fiscal Framework (LGFF) program funding update.
Adair will be asking the SPC to recommend that council approve the addition of four full-time equivalent positions for the purpose of maintaining the longevity of EMS services within LFES funded by the contract increase from the signed master service agreement with Alberta Health Services.
A report to the SPC sways there is about $950,000 of unallocated EMS funding which “was negotiated for Medical Supervisor positions within as part of the EMS contract.”
Malcolm will be asking the SPC to recommend council approve the use of up to $600,000 of the estimated balance of Community Capital Projects Grant funding to the Make Your Mark: One-Time Grant Funding Opportunity and to direct administration to hold a one-time intake period for allocation of approved funding.
The CCCPG offers capital funding to support non-profits enhance their capacity to provide community services with the grant focusing on projects promoting “inclusivity, diversity, equity, and accessibility in recreational, educational, and wellbeing opportunities.”
Mathews said outside council chambers Tuesday as mayor and council went into closed session that there is reason for optimism moving forward.
“Obviously, like all communities there’s been a lot of inflationary pressures and a lot of things that have occurred in the marketplace including the prime lending rate being fairly high. So what that does is it slows down some of our areas in development, specifically in our land developments and so forth,” said Mathews.
“What I will say is there’s also some optimism in regards to what we’re seeing going on with the inflationary terms,” he added.
Council isn’t doing a re-examination of the whole budget that was approved in 2022 but rather “specific things that are coming forward” which could include conditional initiatives – a number of which are coming forward, said Mathews.
“It’s not a whole reopening of the budget but what it does is allow some time for council to consider budgetary impacts” of some initiatives, he said.
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