This year's municipal budget deliberations are shaping up to be a taxing exercise in more ways than one. Whatever spin you put on it, if we're not careful we could either be up to our ankles in doo-doo, or up to our armpits in a skyrocketing municipal tax levy.
According to the district's manager of engineering, Brian Barnett, our wastewater treatment plant is just about to burst at the seams and the main sewage pipeline from downtown, which is at full capacity, will likely require expansion. The combined remediation cost could easily hit the $20-30 million range.
As well, 1.5 million litres of tap water is leaching into the ground annually because of our pasta-sieve pipe network. The Plateau reservoir in Valleycliffe is leaking 19 million litres per year. The Thunderbird reservoir is not far behind in the seepage department and the Alice Lake reservoir, installed in 1965, only has a four-year lifespan remaining.
But the future cost of repairing those deficiencies is only a small piece of the municipal expenditure pie. Across the province between 2000 and '09, B.C.'s population grew 12 per cent while municipal operating spending grew by 46 per cent. In other words, adjusted for inflation, it grew nearly four times faster than population growth and more than twice as fast as real disposable income.
This revelation is hardly headline news for the powers that be on Second Avenue. The vaunted Squamish Service Initiative promises to "balance the costs of providing exceptional service with the responsibility of internal costs and respect for our tax base."
Well, folks, the time has come to convert rhetoric into reality. At the moment, taxpayers are footing the bill for the lease on a downtown Community Policing Station that has been closed for nearly two years because of security deficiencies. We continue to pay robust interest instalments on the $8 million loan for an Oceanfront development venture that is rapidly hurtling into vanity project territory.
Over the past two years the district got on the right track by paring down the administrative team at muni hall from 12 to five departments, a move that has led to considerable savings. And there appears to be ample room for even more consolidation.
We've just hired a Recreation Services Director. Meanwhile, according to the district's website, we also have a Recreation Service Manager, a Recreation Program Supervisor, a Recreation Program Coordinator, a Seniors Recreation Program Supervisor, and a Trails Coordinator. From the looks of it, we've got enough taxpayer-funded, rec-related staffing to serve two municipalities.
As local property values stagnate and high-paying jobs become harder to find, residents are in no mood for a hefty mill-rate hike, or an over-the-top utilities bill. In the good old days, municipal coffers were routinely topped up with cash from our ample industrial/commercial tax base.
The halcyon days of Woodfibre and B.C. Rail are gone. With no major taxable sugar daddies on the immediate horizon, the district's staff payroll, from top to bottom, and every expenditure, no matter how big or small, is due for a thorough re-assessment as a hedge against our looming infrastructure reno tab.
