Budget Discussion Gets Down to the Dollars

Council reviews 2026 budget particulars

The community COW is getting a good workout this month.

On Thursday, Council members attended the third Committee of the Whole (COW) meeting in October, and the second devoted solely to budget discussion.

The evening's agenda focused almost entirely on a review of utilities costs and a look at potential capital and operating supplemental expenses.

Utility Cost Projections

In this current draft budget, general water rates (beginning on page 8 of the evening's agenda) are projected to increase by five percent over current costs, which Financial Officer Joe Chirkoff said means an increase of about $18 for each household.

Discussion centred around the fact that expenses have only increased about three percent, but the extra would be charged in order to generate a surplus fund to set aside for future water-related projects.

Solid waste costs (page 12) are also projected to increase five percent in 2026, which translates to roughly $20 per household.

Director of Operations Karl Buhr noted that the Village's acceptance of recycling has been positively acknowledged by Recycle BC, which should lead to increased revenues generated over time.

While Council members were all generally onside for the water rate increase, opinion was more divided on the surplus generated from solid waste fees. Councillor Ron McLaughlin asked why surplus funds are held in this category when no capital equipment costs are involved, and Buhr concurred.

However, Councillor Neville Abbott said he'd like to keep this surplus set aside for further environmental enhancements, and cited the new Community Recycling Depot as a good example of a successful project.

The wastewater general fund (page 15), which reflects the extra costs to Kelvin Grove residents for their sewer system, is also slated for a five percent increase in 2026. Buhr noted that the Village will need to fund some significant maintenance in next few years due to the aging infrastructure. After discussion, staff was asked to bring back a more detailed breakdown of the cost estimates to the next meeting.

Supplemental Options

Supplemental costs in the draft budget are divided into capital requests (page 17) and operating cost requests (page 18).

The 17 capital request items totalled $505,000. Of these, only eight would require funding in 2026 and several are presented as alternatives to each other.

One such alternative, introduced by Chief Administrative Officer Ross Blackwell, centred around the repair required for the stairs behind the Village Hall. Since the stairs are no longer needed as a fire egress, he said, the money could instead be put toward building a two-storey addition behind the building to store Emergency Support Services gear, and essential office paperwork.

Further discussion touched on the drilling of wells as an alternate source of water for the Village. Mayor Ken Berry asked for an update on the well-drilling options. 'We've been talking about this for three years, and I don't see any reflection of these costs," he said. "I think it would be money well spent."

Buhr noted that the cost of a test well might be around $50,000, but that drilling a municipal well with the required infrastructure would be in the millions of dollars.

A new ask this year from staff in the realm of operating costs (page 18) is $300,000 to cover the cost of updating a number of bylaws, and to reassess the Official Community Plan.

Council will meet in camera Friday evening for their first strategy session of this electoral term, and then will hold another public COW on the budget October 23.

The next regular meeting of Council is October 21, beginning at 7 p.m.

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