WESTLOCK — Westlock County has two major problems to face even past the 2021 budget: revenue sources and uncollectible taxes, says interim CAO Rick McDonald.
Budget talks continued at Westlock County today with more details on admin’s recommendations for what the financial services and office of the CAO operating budgets, and the capital budget would look like for 2021.
Administrative leadership has been lacking over the past few years, observed interim CAO Rick McDonald, and they’re looking to address some of the issues that has caused. He said he has no opinion on previous CAOs but he has been working to improve the workplace culture, including loss of trust and morale issues.
Employee relations, he said, were “a big gap in the organization six-seven months ago.” Under his office, the county has set up basic human resource services through one trained employee, providing “fairly significant support to staff” that still needs to be strengthened.
“It strengthens your organization when employees are healthy, both mentally and physically.”
McDonald wants to change performance evaluations too, which he says haven’t been done well so far. They’re looking to build capacity from within, also a change of focus. Succession planning and cross-training are also “critical.”
The county underwent a staff capacity review in 2018 which concluded they were understaffed with 47 full-time employees; the benchmark is 62 FTE. The study wasn’t made public and deputy reeve Brian Coleman said council only received very little information: “That baffles me,” he said, and asked for it to be released publicly.
Budget consultant Kay Spiess said it’s a little outdated but still relevant to the current environment.
An area that McDonald says the county has ignored is corporate planning, or an administrative plan that supports council’s strategic plan, the ‘How’ to the ‘What.’ It should be more focused with more measures to evaluate performance.
“You need to go out and talk to your community,” he told councillors.
McDonald explained that councillors should focus on the strategic direction of the county and how administration delivers within the budget they provide, rather than its day-to-day operations.
Media relations is now a priority for the CAO so the county can be proactive in releasing “proper, transparent information” and focus on facts rather than opinions, said McDonald.
A communications plan was drafted last year, but Spiess said it never went in front of council. The draft needs to be tailored to the county’s specific needs, she said.
Money for development, but what kind?
There’s consensus among admin, Spiess and councillors that they are faced with a budget problem: there is very little left to cut in expenses and revenue sources are decreasing and unstable. The new process they’ve adopted for this year’s budget, Spiess said, is intended to set up a framework for the future, not just this year.
“We need to find a way to keep this county sustainable. … we need to keep that all in focus, so it’s not all about the 2021 budget,” said Coleman.
Councillors are heading into budget deliberations next week, with meetings set for Dec. 8, 10 and 11.
There’s agreement among them that development is needed, but not exactly what kind.
Coun. Lou Hall thinks sustainability is not solely on the expense side, but rests on finding “revenue-generating sources” like making room for acreage owners to feed into the municipal tax base, and reeve Jared Stitsen agrees. For Coun. Dennis Primeau, “that’s a pipe dream” without creating jobs first.
One big industry, said Coun. Isaac Skuban, could probably solve most of the county’s revenue issues. He thinks the county can’t financially sustain the service levels that have been in place so far, but they, along with tax rates, have to be made consistent.
A regional development plan is “probably the best thing we could do,” said Coun. Victor Julyan, who says he’s always envisioned development happening near Clyde, where Highways 2 and 18 intersect.
$5.9 million for capital
Admin recommended about $5.9 million worth of capital projects for 2021, 88 per cent of which are for transportation and utilities.
They expect $1.1 million to be funded through Municipal Sustainability Initiative money, $849,000 from the federal gas tax, $958,000 through reserves, $1.8 million through debt and $1.16 million through sale proceeds.
They’re looking to replace three trucks in ag services, six graders and one of the fire tenders. The county building also needs upgrades, which Spiess says are six years overdue. Some of the money will go to other equipment replacement and three programs: shoulder pulls, bridges and valve replacement.
Spiess also recommended they form a capital committee and start using a budget software — which they already have — as well as the asset management training some employees have started to catalogue and keep track of their projects.
Over time, projects have been deferred to accommodate revenue losses, but infrastructure maintenance is still needed. The offset balance between transportation and all other departments means some projects don’t get as much attention, she said.
Coleman thought a fire assessment should be done sooner rather than later, since they’re looking at $343,000 in capital expenses for equipment in 2021 alone. From 2022 to 2026, administration recommended they spend another $1 million on protective services, which also includes county peace officers.
Under the Intermunicipal Collaborative Framework with the Town of Westlock, they’ll be doing a fire services review within two years.
Highlights:
- Some jobs have been moved around and employees split between departments for an overall salary expense reduction of $82,000
- Office of the CAO expanded to offer HR, communications, corporate planning
- County can’t afford not to have corporate planning, says CAO; it’ll cost around $43,000
- Professional service costs going down $94,000 in financial services, $226,000 across all departments: no rec master plan, ICFs are finished, fewer legal fees
- Financial services decreased reserve transfers by $870,000, will use provincial funding to cover bad debts instead; more details to come on reserve transfers
Capital projects proposed:
- Three ag services trucks and other equipment replacements: $220,500 funded through reserves and sale proceeds
- Admin building renovations: $141,500 funded through reserves
- Replacing a fire tender with a used one: $300,000, mostly funded through reserves
- Water supply for Station 6 and cistern water for Station 1: $43,000 funded through reserves
- Shoulder pulls on 29.5 miles of roads: $1.1 million through MSI
- Bridge repairs/replacements: $850,000 from the federal gas tax fund
- A valve replacement program: $50,000 through reserves
- Six new graders: $2.85 million funded by borrowing ($1.845 million) and sale proceeds (a little over $1 million)
- New gravel truck: $230,000 mostly funded through reserves
- Other transportation equipment: $124,000 funded through reserves and sale proceeds
Capital notes:
- Admin buys gravel equipment through a Rural Municipalities of Alberta program for a five-year period with a guaranteed buyback option
- Repairs (except for servicing and damage) are covered
- Two of those six graders have already been approved for purchase in November
- 88 per cent of all capital expenses go toward transportation and utilities
The draft budget binder can be found here, and login information for each meeting here. Town & Country Today will be bringing highlights following every meeting. For more details, see the weekly editions of Town & Country This Week Dec. 8 and 15.
