Woodlands County trimming $3.1M out of budget

Kevin Berger – Leader Staff

With the municipality facing a $9.5 million loss in revenue due to the outstanding taxes owed by two oil and gas companies, the various departments within Woodlands County have found approximately $3.1 million in savings following a review of their operating and capital budgets.

Woodlands County councillors reviewed a report listing these cost savings on a department-by-department basis at their Oct. 1 meeting in Fort Assiniboine.

Alicia Bourbeau, director of corporate services, said she had previously come to council in August with information regarding the financial state of the municipality. At that time, she had made a commitment to return to the county’s department managers and have them all review their budgets in order to find cost savings “to get us through to the end of the year.”

The summary suggests that $990,000 in various infrastructure capital projects (signage, bridge repairs, concrete aprons and so on) could be eliminated, along with an estimated $1.315 million in dust control and engineering projects.

Another $152,000 in training and board expenses could be saved in the recreation/community services department, while the agriculture services department could trim $133,900

The county fire services estimated it could save $101,000, although that would be dependent on activity.

Another $90,200 could be saved on contracted sewer services and supplies, while expenses at the Whitecourt airport could be trimmed by $89,325 by not doing line painting and purchasing certain supplies.

The remaining $500,000 in savings were spread over patrol services, solid waste management, water management, economic development, administration and recreation capital.

Coun. Ron Burrows was the first to comment on the report, noting it was “a little light (on details)” in terms of what was being cut.

Mayor Ron Govenlock asked why there was an imbalance in cuts by the various departments, pointing out that economic development was only trimming $8,000 out of its budget.

“I don’t have the budget numbers in front of me to know what was budget initially, and why some departments can comfortably lose … 20 per cent and somebody will only lose two per cent,” he said, noting those figures were rough estimates.

Frank stressed that this wasn’t intended as an “exercise in fairness,” but rather an attempt to find various savings within the existing budget.

“It’s simply a question of where can we save money at this point in time,” he said.

Govenlock then followed up on Burrows’ point, noting that when council accepted the 2019 budget, there were line items that they had appropriated dollars towards.

“Now we’re in a situation where we’re removing those without council knowing what is being taken out of that particular department or that particular budget,” he said.

“I have to say, I am not comfortable with simply saying, ‘This is where the changes will occur’ without being specific and relating it back to the council approved in March 2019.”

Bourbeau apologized for the report’s lack of detai, noting that she was motivated by a “sense of urgency” to find spending reductions as soon as possible.

Govenlock said he wasn’t trying to be critical, but it had to be transparent as to where the cuts were occurring, and if they were equitable.

Coun. Sylvia Bonnett said she understood what Bourbeau was trying to do, acknowledging that the year is more than three-quarters of the way through.

“To me, this is almost like a variance report … to show where the departments are sitting and how much of their budget they’ve used.”

Bonnett also pointed out that some departments have leaner budgets, while others build a “cushion” into their budgets.

Burrows said that no apologies were needed, “as these are extraordinary times.” However, he asked if departments could go into more detail as to where these cuts are happening.

“That might help us in the upcoming budgeting process as well,” he said.

Noting that the county is in a position that it’s never been in before, Coun. Dale Kluin said he had sat down with agricultural services manager Dawn Fortin when she went through the agricultural services’ budget line by line.

While info on the bigger projects being eliminated would be appreciated, an exhaustive analysis was not necessary.

“Right now, we’ve got bigger fish to fry,” he said.