REGINA, Sask. — The four special meetings on Regina’s 2027 operations and utility budgets have wrapped up, and the focus now turns to the actual budget deliberations starting Dec. 7.
The last pre-budget special council meeting happened Tuesday at city hall and focused on the utility budget, with administration forecasting a 10.2 per cent utility rate increase.
The plan now is for administration to take the feedback and prepare budget documents, which will go forward for full consideration and decisions during the week of December deliberations at city hall.
It was during last year’s budget process that the city introduced a series of special meetings to discuss the budget ahead of formal deliberations. Mayor Chad Bachynski, who spoke to reporters Wednesday from Ottawa, thought the process went well again this year in gathering information needed to make budget decisions.
“I think we've had success in having these pre-budget meetings, giving the community an opportunity to come and speak on very specific aspects of our budgeting process and the forecasts that they've seen and where the investments are being made,” Bachynski said.
“We've also had the opportunity to have a pre-budget survey where people can have their voice heard, although unofficial. It's still important information for us to look at and consider and put that as a part of the overall information package that council looks at.”
During this year’s budget process, there were some guidelines set as to where council wanted the final mill rate increase to land.
Bachynski said council did set some “guardrails for us, or at least a starting point, saying that we wanted to know what it would look like if we were to forecast Regina's increase to stay within the bottom 25 per cent of comparable municipalities.”
To meet those guidelines, the city has been looking at a potential 5.81 per cent mill rate increase and what that would look like in terms of the services provided. The indication from administration during the special meetings is that current service levels would need a mill rate increase of seven per cent to maintain the status quo.
“This is asking administration to at least show us what that looks like. And recognizing that, although there are some comparisons, there are differences in the way that we deliver services from other municipalities,” said Bachynski.
Bachynski called this something to “start the conversation.”
He said that the “strategic imperative, seeing what a 5.81 would look like — I think that is progress. We weren't ever going to see us jump a big, big number in one year because we still have a lot of investment to do, a lot of catch-up. So, I think we've made a step. I think it just gives us motivation to continue working to find that sustainable state.”
Lessons from last year’s budget
Last year, council ended up passing a 10.9 per cent mill rate increase, the largest in history. When asked if council would be able to keep a mill rate increase down to single digits for residents this year, Bachynski was hopeful.
“We know what kind of the status quo number is, which is already in the single digits at seven per cent, and we know that administration has put an initial forecast of what that could look like if we were to be in that 25 per cent of comparable cities at 5.81. So I would say at this point, just given the forecast, and it's… relatively recent information, I think we're well positioned to be in the single digits, so to speak.”
But Bachynski added that “as much as we need to focus on the affordability of the number, I think that we need to just look wholesome at what that number means in terms of services that our residents expect.”
His personal view, he said, was that if there's “small tweaks both up and down from that initial forecast, I think that would be a consideration that I would make as a result of feedback from residents. But overall… from my perspective, I don't see any massive swings that I'm looking to implement, I would say, from what I've seen from the forecast already.”
Reporters noted that during the budget process last year, some decisions proved unpopular as the year went on — notably the decisions affecting maintenance of parks and open spaces.
When asked if it was going to be possible to avoid that trap again, Bachynski had this to say:
“Last year, my understanding from the information is that we would see a minimal service level change in that reduction. It was trying something different, trying something new in the way we address our park spaces as an example. And we've heard feedback. We've heard feedback from residents that we didn't hit the mark.
“And so I think it's not a bad thing to make some tough decisions, again with good intentions, of trying to find a balance of service levels and affordability.”
Bachynski said the most important thing is “to iterate” on the feedback they receive.
“When we learn, we get feedback from residents. When we learn new information from our administration, I think it is the responsibility of myself and council to take that information seriously and adjust and iterate. And I think that's a culture that I want to continue to push with the city is: we can't be afraid. You know, we have to weigh the risks of our decisions every time. But if we can weigh the risks and still try something different to maybe drive some level of affordability for our residents and know that maybe we don't hit it 100 per cent.”
Bachynski added there are “going to be tough decisions no matter what. And that's our obligation, our responsibility to make those tough decisions, to find that balance.
“But I think there's opportunity to learn from those decisions even a year later like we have on that. I think there's a constant review of that. I think there's questions being asked all the time and work being done from what I've seen, from the conversations I've had with both city manager, deputy city managers, staff.”
