Osoyoos town council looked for further means of slimming down its budget with a second special meeting on March 12.
Staff presented a report that noted after their first meeting, council’s cuts had brought down the combined tax and utility hike from 39.3 per cent to 24 per cent.
That broke down to a municipal tax increase of 32.95 per cent instead of 37.65 per cent, a water utility hike of 64.11 per cent instead of 146.63 per cent and a sewer hike of 78.61 per cent instead of 117.05 per cent.
Council approved further cuts and project deferrals that will reduce those hikes further, bringing the overall tax hike down to 23.69 per cent.
Those rates do not include any increases from the hospital district, school district or regional district.
Not every suggestion was met with approval. A call to cut the amount of money being put into the asset management plan for the sewer from about $1.3 million down to a flat $1 million was rejected after a vote.
Coun. Johnny Cheong pointed out that cutting those funds would cost residents and the town more in the long run. The proposed reduction for the asset management plan would have necessitated about $1.6 million in borrowing over the next five years, staff noted.
“$1 million of borrowing over 20 years is $870,000 in just interest, which is $74,000 a year in interest, that’s over a two per cent tax increase just to service the debt,” said Cheong.
Putting off necessary spending was a point of concern shared by other members of council. It was raised again during discussions over a proposal to defer replacing two 20-year-old trucks in the town’s fleet.
“The reason why we continue to be in the situations that we find ourselves in is because we never seriously addressed asset management,” said Coun. Zachary Poturica.
In the end, council voted to defer replacing those two trucks to next year’s budget and asked staff to look into whether it would be more feasible to do engine or motor-train replacements that replace them wholesale.
Some of the other cuts included using funds allocated for a currently empty IT position to cover half of the proposed $100,000 to hire a communications person for the town.
Council pulled out $115,000 in sensors and “smart” manholes to monitor the town’s sewer system, reducing spending on design for office space at the town services yard by $50,000.
READ MORE: Osoyoos may look to lake water amid ongoing well issues
Separate from current budget discussions, the town will be presented in April with potential cost estimates for treating their current groundwater or for establishing a facility that would pull and treat local lake water.
The budget is set to be presented again for a vote on March 26.