Sunshine Coast Regional District (SCRD) board members will be "under the gun" to keep taxes and services in check during the 2011 budget process, says board chair Garry Nohr.
SCRD directors begin the three-month long budget process with pre-budget meetings next week. Nohr said he is anticipating yet another rough budget process.
"It's probably going to be very, very difficult -even more so than last year," he said. "Last year we were able to almost drop $300,000 off because [outdoor recreation] was removed. This year we don't have the ability to do that because whatever's there is needed. It's required."
Nohr said there are a lot of big ticket items to be addressed in budget talks including implementation of the solid waste management plan, closing the Pender Harbour landfill, upgrades to recreation facilities and implementation of the integrated transportation study.
"All of this is going to be a real challenge this year as far as I can see," Nohr said. "Each director is going to have to look at their area and see what they can maybe give up or not go ahead on that they might have been looking forward to as a plum for next year, so to speak."
But while the budget may be tough, Nohr said the SCRD has two valuable tools at its disposal - zero-based budgeting and the SCRD financial sustainability plan. He said both have made keeping costs under control and planning for the future much easier since the policies were adopted two years ago.
Nohr also stressed that the budget process is an open one. Regular updates to the budget will be posted on the SCRD website and anyone can drop in to a meeting at any time. He said his constituents have been paying closer attention to the budget process the last two years as the 2009 budget held sharp tax increases and the 2010 budget saw some service cuts.
Ultimately, Nohr said, the goal will be to keep things running without going deeper into taxpayers' pockets.
"You look around at the businesses in the community and you see businesses going out of business and you see other people that are actually holding on and they're saying 'yeah, I'm making it, but it's not as good as even last year' and the builders are telling me they are doing smaller projects, but nothing big," Nohr said. "What that indicates to me is that there's not that much coming in as far as dollars for the people in the area. They probably can't afford any increases at all. We've really got to work to hold the line."
