Saint John's proposed $151M budget would lead to city cuts

Saint John council will debate a proposed 2016 operating budget on Monday that holds the line on property taxes but squeezes services in almost every department.

The document proposes $151.5 million in spending, a small $400,000increase from 2015.

If approved in its current form, the Saint John Police Department budget would be reduced $270,000from the amount the department received last year, and $90,000would be cut from the fire department's budget.

Spending for the city's economic development agencies would also be reduced. And city managers warn proposed funding levels for transit, a $78,000increase over last year, could lead to service reductions.

You can't cut your way to prosperity.- Coun. John MacKenzie

Coun. Shirley McAlarysaid sheis not pleased with where the cuts are being made.

"If we expect this city to grow and we want to have a good quality of life for the citizens, and we want new people to live here, well, we have to keep up with our services," said McAlary.

McAlary, a former city mayor, says she'd prefer to see less money spent on such things as consultants and, perhaps, the cancellation of incentives for developers.

"Is this the right time to be cutting the fire department?" asked McAlary.

"With the industrial businesses that we have in the city, we have, I don't know how many train cars coming in on the east side there with crude oil."

Total revenue increase $736K

Anticipating a funding squeeze, Saint John's Police Commission accepted a recommendation last weekby Chief John Bates to hold the line on the 2016 budget and ask for no increase.

Such a move was only possible because vacant positions withinthe policedepartment are not being filled, says Coun. John MacKenzie, who sits on the Saint John Board ofPolice Commissioners.

Since the beginning of 2015, eight police officers left the department and only one the chief of police has been replaced. Afurther cut, reducing funding from 2015 levels by $270,000, only puts the department in a more difficult position.

• Saint John police force understaffed, officers burned out

"I was a little shocked to see that," said MacKenzie.

"You can't cut your way to prosperity."

MacKenzie says in addition to reduced staffing levels, the department is already cutting back on goods and services and putting off purchases. He predicts overtime spending will increase as department managers struggle to keep front-line staffing at required levels.

The modest, 1.5-per-cent growth in the city's assessment base for 2016 will bring in an extra $1.8 million in property tax revenue, but that boost is offset by a $1 million cut to the provincial Community Funding Equalization Grant, and the elimination of the Municipal Fine Revenue Sharing program.

Those cuts reduce the city's total revenue increase to $736,000.