Chamber pitches prudence in tackling budget

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This article was published 27/01/2024 (600 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Brandon Chamber of Commerce is requesting that the City of Brandon scrutinize the salaries of civil servants and replenish its financial reserves as this year’s budget deliberations rapidly approach.

The chamber typically sends the city a letter containing pre-budget recommendations and shared a copy of its 2024 missive with the Sun.

“While tax increases are never palatable, the City of Brandon must put in place a long-term plan for responsible, incremental tax increases and budgeting that allows the corporation, our business community, and citizens to plan for their financial future,” the letter dated Jan. 25 reads.

Signed by vice-president Lois Ruston and general manager Connor Ketchen, the letter acknowledges the difficult financial situation outlined in an MNP financial sustainability report released last month, but encourages caution in how Brandon proceeds.

That report suggested the city needs tax increases in the neighbourhood of 13 per cent per year from 2024 through 2027 and three per cent per year for the next six years after that.

The roughly 10 per cent tax hike city administration is proposing for this year’s budget is lower than MNP’s recommendation, but higher than the Wheat City has seen in more than a decade.

The first of five major points in the letter requests that Brandon create a multi-year plan for tax increases so that residents and businesses can plan accordingly. It does not suggest a target, but the chamber said it wants “reasonable, defensible tax increases.”

In a Friday phone interview, Ruston said the chamber has been recommending the city implement more moderate, phased-in tax increases in recent years.

“It wasn’t heeded by the City of Brandon, unfortunately,” she said. “And now I think, as a community, we find ourselves in a difficult spot, and so we are encouraging city council to take a look at the tax increase that certainly the MNP report suggests are required.”

With a significant chunk of the operating budget dedicated to salaries, one of the chamber’s recommendations is that “salaries of our civil servants should fall under scrutiny as well.” For example, it is noted while the city has engineers on staff, it still hires outside consultants for engineering projects.

Ruston said the city has added numerous positions and made enhancements to others.

“It’s important for any of us to measure the success and the outputs of new positions and new employees that are added to our organizations,” Ruston said. “We really strongly suggest that the City of Brandon look inward as well to determine if there are ways they can alleviate some of these increases … Are there ways that they can become leaner and more efficient?”

MNP’s recommendation that the city hire a grant writer to apply for funding from senior levels of government is one that the chamber endorses in the letter.

Asked previously about a grant writer by the Sun, city manager Ron Bowles said the city was more likely to hire an executive assistant for Mayor Jeff Fawcett to assist him in lobbying higher levels of government rather than hire a grant writer.

Having applied for grants before, Ruston said it’s an incredible amount of work.

“There’s lot of long-term work and relationship building and networking that that needs to happen to ensure that success,” she said. “So while we may have a very outgoing mayor who’s doing a lot of that kind of work, there really is a necessity to have an individual who is then following up and accessing those grants, doing the writing, doing the follow-up providing all of the reporting that’s required.”

Scenarios outlined in MNP’s plan assume that Brandon’s reserves will be “significantly depleted to fund the capital plan” and recommends the city consider increasing its general operating reserve to weather unexpected events.

Another recommendation is that Brandon implement “a multi-year, staged approach” to replenishing its reserves. Council has already taken a step in that direction by authorizing the creation of a fiscal contingency reserve using extra provincial grant money received last year.

A significant portion of the city’s spending over the next 10 years will be on capital projects and infrastructure and the chamber’s recommendation asks that Brandon prioritize projects that will support local businesses and can be carried out by local contractors.

The chamber’s final recommendation is for city administration and Brandon City Council to develop a better sense of collaboration and transparency.

MNP interviewed city council while preparing their report, writing that some members felt that “administration hesitates to give council a full picture of issues the city is facing, and has made unilateral decisions to shelve certain projects, or tap specified reserves for other uses.”

If a strong sense of collaboration and communication between council and management existed, Ruston said, she isn’t sure Brandon would be in its current situation.

Developing four-year budgets as was introduced in this year’s budget process is a good step forward, she said.

“We want to encourage them to do the very best that they can for our community to not only address the needs that we have currently in the short term, but to also ensure that we’re in a position where we can grow and develop into the future,” Ruston said.

According to Ruston, the chamber has been meeting with city executives in recent weeks and is looking to meet with council in the weeks ahead. She added that the chamber will be sending a representative to sit in on budget deliberations on Feb. 2 and 3.

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