City budget on table
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Updated: November 06, 2009 4:14 PM
The City of Abbotsford’s operating budget will come under scrutiny next week, as city hall wrangles with its numbers before deciding on a property tax rate for 2010.
The city has already said it faces a $30-million shortfall next year for planned capital projects, including parks, roads, buildings and new equipment.
The operating budget deals with all of the non-capital expenditures required to run the city’s daily operations. Most of the $157 million in that category pays the wages of city employees including police and fire.
With the majority of those salaries dictated by contract, city manager Frank Pizzuto said that making cuts in the 2010 operating budget would “impact our ability to maintain the levels of service that are currently being provided.”
Of the city’s $157 million operating budget, $36.1 million goes to police ($29 million in wages) and $12 million to fire ($9.6 million in salaries).
The remaining $108.8 million pays for the day-to-day operations of all other city hall departments including parks and recreation, finance and engineering. Of that amount, $68 million (or 63 per cent) is paid in salaries.
An even larger percentage of the police and fire budgets – approximately 80 per cent – is spent on paying employees.
The city’s operating budget for 2010 will be debated during a public forum on Nov. 12 in Matsqui Centennial Auditorium, located beside city hall at 32315 South Fraser Way, from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
The City of Abbotsford is hoping to have its 2010 budget finalized by the end of December.
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