Days after ringing in a new year promising slow economic revival nationwide, Red Deer city council will begin today poring over a lean operating budget with few additional services.

Over as many as eight days, civic leaders will review a $221-million operating budget that is trying to maintain service levels while ensuring staff hirings are kept to a minimum.

The budget submitted by city departments shows an average municipal tax increase of 4.06 per cent. An average home assessed at $280,000 in 2010 would face a municipal tax bill of just over $1,488 compared with $1,460 in 2009.

Last year, council approved a 7.05 per cent hike which was later reduced to 5.5 per cent after the education tax rate was finalized and combined with the municipal rate.

Red Deer Emergency Services may be one department feeling the pinch this year. Four or five additional fire-medics have been hired annually in recent years, but this tradition could be halted in 2010.

A hiring freeze on Mounties is also suggested. Last year, council approved for seven new Mounties, plus nine support positions. Only one half-time support position is proposed for the city RCMP detachment, which administration reports may result in more prioritization of phone calls, although call volumes are said to be decreasing.

During a media briefing on the operational budget Monday, Mayor Morris Flewwelling said residents shouldn’t be concerned that the city may not budget for more emergency personnel.

“But it will not address the chronic problem that we have where our number of police officers is lower than we’d like it to be,” he said. “I think the budget has been drafted in such a way that citizens will not see a sharp reduction.

“The lawns and parks will not go to hell, the firemen will still be there. . . it’s not one of those bone-cutting budgets.”

Overall service level cuts shouldn’t be outwardly obvious, Flewwelling said.

In late November, council passed a $106.9-million capital budget — a far cry from the 2008 figure of nearly $473 million. The 2009 operating budget was a record $209.3 million.

The decisions that council make over the coming days on whether to increase or cut costs, will weigh heavily on them as they head into an election year.

“You’re going to have to answer to the electorate very directly,” Flewwelling said.

Administration has proposed a budget of $217,300 for this October’s municipal election.

Council and senior administration cautioned departments to hold the line on spending, particularly when the city has experienced reduced revenues. It’s also expecting construction costs to resume climbing in 2010. Departments with additional requests beyond their base budgets were told they should be “critical” items. Those came in at $2.5 million.

City manager Craig Curtis unveiled the proposed operating budget by referring back to the city’s record on capital spending.

A Canadian Federation of Independent Business report showed that Red Deer was in the middle of the pack in Alberta when it came to curbing operational spending during 2000 to 2007. The Frontier Centre for Public Policy also released a report late last year, showing that Red Deer was a high capital spender per household in 2008.

Red Deer is generally “a fairly conservative spender” over the long haul and this year is illustrative of that, Curtis said.

Curtis said the city must live within its means.

“There will be a slight deterioration in terms of standards of road maintenance and parks because we’re not expanding the staff to deal with those areas,” Curtis said.

Budgets are either being frozen or decreased, so departments are having to think of new ways to do business, Curtis said.

Senior administration is asking for about 15 new fulltime equivalent positions, bringing the total to 1,315 positions. Last year, the city had 1,300 FTEs. In previous years, the city has hired around 80 or 100 employees.

New services will include a transit customer service centre in the downtown parkade being built along 49th Avenue.

Besides asking for 15 more employees, the city also anticipates not filling about 15 vacancies.

“The intent is to try to maintain as many of the service levels as we can without increasing our staff,” said Corporate Services director Lorraine Poth.

http://www.albertalocalnews.com/reddeeradvocate/news/local/City_budget_projects_4_tax_increase_80644672.html

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