REGINA - Final decisions will wait for Friday as council looks to nail down the details of its 2024 operations and capital budget.
Council finished hearing delegations on Thursday and moved on to the business of deliberating on the administration recommendation of a 2.82 per cent mill rate increase for 2024. While there were votes on some amendments introduced Thursday afternoon, most of the decisions on the main questions -- such as what the final mill rate increase ought to be -- are still to come on Friday.
One major decision that will go a long way towards determining that final mill rate is in respect to what council will do with the ask from Regina Exhibition Association Ltd.
REAL have requested a significant increase in funding up to $6.4 million — well over the $1.1 million number they received last year. Administration had come up with a recommendation for $2.5 million on Nov.17 but that leaves a gap of $3.9 million. Administration has since proposed to address much of this amount through a one percent increase to the mill rate, which would bring the mill rate increase to 2.82.
But whether council will agree with that request is a major unknown, especially given some of the division seen on council in recent weeks on the issue of REAL. Recent weeks have seen the release of a damning MNP report on REAL’s finances and sustainability, as well as votes to potential dissolving the entire REAL organization as well as removal of the entire board of voting directors.
Representatives from REAL including CEO Tim Reid and the newly-appointed board’s Chair, Regina City Manager Niki Anderson, spent four hours before council Thursday answering a host of questions about REAL on issues such as deferred maintenance, event attraction and the operations of REAL. One of the major points from the REAL delegation was the importance of “stability” going forward with the organization, a word Reid used in his presentation.
Some fireworks erupted shortly before the noon break when Councillor John Findura posed a question regarding “some uncertainty, some nervousness” expressed from the community about the situation with REAL.
In response, Anderson pointed to “some of the theatrics going on in the public domain,” and pointed to media reports of letters from “former board chairs writing things” and “seeing allegations that the new interim board is illegal.”
“Those frankly do not make our stakeholders feel confident.”
That drew an outraged response from Councillor Bob Hawkins, who took issue with Anderson’s characterization of the former board.
“I cannot let the City Manager’s comment go by. I find it unworthy of the City Manager when she refers to the theatrics in the media and implicate some of the most prominent respected citizens in our community. And I object as well to the implication that the media is promoting theatrics.”
That comment drew objections from a number of councillors and calls he was out of order. It was at that point that council broke for lunch.
Following REAL’s presentation, Reid spoke to reporters and acknowledged the questioning his organization faced this time was tougher than in the past.
“We’re asking for considerably more funds than we have in the past, and I would suggest that should be stiffer. And I think we got great questions from city council today, I think we had fair questions. I believe we answered them to the fullest of our ability.”
He spoke about the implications regarding any decision council made. “I think it’s all a matter of scope and scale. So if council said hey, we’re going to cut 10 per cent, I think that probably isn’t something that would affect those who use our facilities… If somebody said we’re going to cut 50 percent of the request, I think foundationally we would have to revisit how we operate. I don’t think that would be different in our business than anybody else. I think there was an assumption by REAL, and maybe it was an optimism, that we would come out of COVID-19 and a light switch would flip, and we had that conversation in the past: ‘Hey, how long is it going to take for us to recover?'’ We thought it would be a year, and now we think it’s going to be four or five years. So yeah, it’s a matter of what they decide to do and we’ll have to respond to that.”
When asked if he had any idea what to expect from council, Reid said “I thought council asked incredibly strong questions today. I think they were fair with their approach and ultimately, I think they understand the value of REAL… You have to invest in those amenities in order for them to be sustainable. And we’re at a point in time where City Council needs to invest. So I’d like to believe that the value of REAL was clearly understood. And honestly if City Council feels that it’s not, then we haven’t done our job.”
Amendments passed in afternoon session
Thursday afternoon saw council move into consideration of the whole operations and capital budget and some amendments were put to the floor.
One motion from Councillor Andrew Stevens called for city administration to advance a number of transportation projects for 2024. The two that passed, and after much discussion and a number of votes, were for pedestrian connectivity ($500,000) and multiuse pathway asphalt recapping and repair for $195,000; these would be funded from the general fund reserve.
Another proposed amendment would have postponed the Wascana Pool accessible waterslide improvements, and to allocate the $500,000 in funds for this initiative to be invested of other accessibility improvements in the city in 2024.
The reason cited for potentially postponing the waterslide initiative is because project costs have ballooned into the $1 million range. But the idea of postponing drew a furious reaction from Councillor Terina Nelson, who has championed an accessible waterslide at Wascana Pool.
“How dare you take this away from the disabled community, the community that was so excited to finally go down a goddamn waterslide!” said Nelson, whose microphone was briefly cut off during her remarks.
“You all make me sick, and this is politics… this is not fair. I hope you’re all ashamed of yourselves.”
Instead of going along with the amendment, council instead voted in favor 10-1 of a referral motion of the issue to early in the new year to gain more feedback on the issue.
After roughly five hours of the afternoon session, council recessed for the day at 6 p.m.; they resume Friday morning at 9 a.m. for what is expected to be the final day of budget deliberations in Regina.
