March 11, 2015

Page W4 · Richmond Review

Wednesday, March 11, 2015

Richmond Review · Page W1

City of Richmond

5 Year Financial Plan (2015–2019)

2015 Operating Budget The City’s 2015 Operating Budget will result in an overall average tax increase of 1.89%. The budget primarily maintains civic service levels at existing levels with minimal new spending.

primary reasons for the tax increase. This includes increases in pension, medical and WorkSafe BC premiums, BC Hydro rates and RCMP Integrated Team costs.

The estimated impact of the municipal tax increase on an average Richmond residential property (assessed value of $695,837) will be $32.50. The tax impact for individual property will vary depending on the assessment change in relation to the average.

Limited new spending includes funding to support operating costs associated with new capital projects and operations of the previously approved City Centre Community Centre, which is scheduled to open in mid-2015 and the multipurpose Minoru Complex, now under construction. The budget also includes sustained funding for the City Centre Community Police Station, which previously operated through a three-year pilot program funded from a one-time budget surplus allocation.

Municipal tax represents about half of the overall property tax bill, with the remainder going to other taxing authorities such as the Province of BC (School Taxes), Metro Vancouver Regional District, TransLink and the BC Assessment Authority.

Community Services, which includes Parks and Recreation and Community Social Services, is another core budget area. The budget will continue the City’s expanded focus on social services, particularly in the areas of affordable housing, child care, seniors and youth services and diversity services. Council policy calls for an annual 1% tax increase to go toward replenishing the City’s reserves, which are needed to fund future infrastructure replacement and renewal. However, for 2015,

20.31¢ 18.48¢

Community Services

16.39¢

Engineering and Public Works

14.98¢

Fire Rescue 8.79¢

Finance and Corporate Services 5.72¢

Transfer to Reserve Richmond Public Library

4.18¢

Corporate Administration

3.97¢

Planning and Development

3.20¢

Law, Emergency and Bylaws

3.06¢

Fiscal

0.92¢

Richmond’s average tax increase over the ﬁve years 2011–2015 has been 2.75%, the lowest among the ﬁve largest cities in the region.

opportunity to learn more and provide input at their convenience on a variety of civic programs and initiatives, such as the 5 Year Financial Plan. Recent additions to our E-Services, include the ability to livestream Council meetings and to report selected crimes to Richmond RCMP online.

2015 Tax Dollar Breakdown Police

Council also directed staff to investigate and report back on options for conducting a complete review of City service levels.

Your City Online, On Demand

Council continues its investment in Community Safety, with over 38 cents of every tax dollar going to fund Police, Fire, Bylaw, Law and Emergency Services.

Year-to-year increases, including salary costs and mandatory increases from senior levels of government, are the

Council deferred the additional 1% increase to provide relief to taxpayers. Instead, the City will use unallocated casino revenues for its reserve contribution.

The City of Richmond is responding to changing trends in communication and technology to better serve its residents by providing a wider variety of services online and on demand. These services can be accessed at your convenience from any location where you have Internet access. To help you access these services, a new E-Services menu has been created on the City website. Simply click on the E-Services link on our home page at www.richmond.ca. From accessing realtime trafﬁc camera views to our comprehensive digital map database to our interactive Crime Map, a number of innovative services are offered online. At www.LetsTalkRichmond.ca the City regularly provides citizens with the

You can also get information on downloading a number of free mobile apps, including the RichmondBC app. It provides mobile access to up-to-date information on all parks and cultural, recreational and heritage facilities in the City. The app also features locationaware technology for interactive mobile tours of the Britannia Shipyards National Historic Site. It is free to download and is available from iTunes and Google Play stores. Later this year, we will make it even easier to access our online services with an expanded network of free public wi-ﬁ coming to select City parks and facilities. To get regular updates on City programs follow us on Twitter @Richmond_BC and Facebook at CityofRichmondBC

This could use a subheading! Minoru Complex, opening 2017

City sets ﬁnancial targets for next ﬁve years The City of Richmond annually adopts a 5 Year Financial Plan to help plan expenses and revenues for the current and future years. The plan consists of the City’s Operating, Capital and Utilities budgets for the current year and sets preliminary estimates for those budgets for the following four years. The Operating Budget funds the provision of general City services and determines annual property tax rates. Information on the 2015 Operating Budget can be found on the back page of this special section. The Capital Budget funds investments in new infrastructure or equipment. Information on the 2015 Capital Budget can be found inside this special section. The Utilities Budget supports provision of water, sewer, drainage and garbage

and recycling services. More information on your municipal utilities is available at: www.richmond.ca/cityhall/ﬁnance/ rates/utilityrates.htm The 5 Year Financial Plan provides a budget roadmap for the City to manage its resources, revenues and spending to best serve the community. It also establishes that the City has ability to meet the needs of community and maintain civic service levels for the coming ﬁve years, while meeting its legal requirement to deliver balanced annual operating budgets. The Community Charter, which governs BC’s local government, requires the City to adopt a 5 Year Financial Plan by May 15 of each calendar year. The 5 Year Financial Plan (2015–2019) received

Provide your input

preliminary approval from City Council on March 9. A consultation period is now underway in which the public has the opportunity to view the 5 Year Financial Plan and offer comments to Council.

We welcome your feedback by Friday, March 27, 2015 by:

The proposed 5 Year Financial Plan (2015–2019) Bylaw 9220 is currently available:

Written submissions to Finance Department, Richmond City Hall, 6911 No. 3 Road, Richmond, V6Y 2C1

Via the City’s online public engagement website at www.LetsTalkRichmond.ca Via the City website at www.richmond.ca Via email request to ﬁnance@richmond.ca Via printed copy, available at Richmond City Hall–Information Counter, 6911 No. 3 Road

Commenting on LetsTalkRichmond.ca Emailing ﬁnance@richmond.ca

It is anticipated that Bylaw 9220 will be considered by Council for adoption at the Regular Council Meeting on April 13, 2015 at 7 p.m. in the Richmond City Hall Council Chambers. Public delegations at the Council Meeting are also permitted with regard to this bylaw.

Page W2 · Richmond Review

Wednesday, March 11, 2015

Richmond Review · Page W3

City of Richmond

5 Year Financial Plan (2015–2019)

Capital Budget

Parks Program 13.2% Land Program 10.8%

As Richmond grows and evolves, the City is expanding infrastructure to meet the needs of new and current residents, as well as replacing and renewing existing facilities, utilities and equipment as necessary. The 2015 Capital Budget is $93 million. In addition to new works funded in this year’s Budget, the City is also completing a number of major projects funded through previous capital plans.

Environment Program 8.7% Internal Transfer/ Debt Payment 8.2%

Infrastructure Program 53.3%

The City’s annual Capital Projects Open House will be held on April 16 at City Hall, and provides residents the opportunity to learn more about projects planned for this year in their neighbourhood and across the City. Watch this newspaper for more details coming soon.

Building Program 4.1% Affordable Housing 1.3% Child Care Program 0.4%

Community Safety District Energy Parks and Recreation

Major Facilities The new $7.2 million City Centre Community Centre (above) at Minoru and Firbridge will open later this year. The 30,000 square foot centre will include a community living room; multipurpose program spaces; ﬁtness area and change rooms; aerobic and dance studio; meeting rooms; games room and lounge; kitchen; arts studio and music rooms. Construction will begin on the new multipurpose Minoru Complex this spring. The $79.6 million facility will be home to a new aquatics centre and older adults centre, replacing existing facilities located in Minoru Park. The new complex will provide additional space and a broader scope of services for both aquatics users and older adults.

The complex will also include program space and services for sport and recreation, replacing the Minoru Pavilion, which had reached the end of its lifespan. The project also includes an upgrade of all-weather playing ﬁelds in Minoru Park. Go to www.richmond.ca/ minoruprecinct for more details. Construction cost for the Minoru Complex is being ﬁnanced through City reserves, casino revenues and by taking advantage of low borrowing rates. The construction cost of the project will have no impact on property taxes. Funding for the construction of the City Centre Community Centre and Minoru Complex was included in previous capital budgets.

Public Works The 2015 Capital Budget includes $37.2 million for a variety of Public Works projects. As an island community, located in a tidal estuary, Richmond must continually invest in the dikes and drainage network. Over the past decade, the City has been annually upgrading the network of major pump stations that surround Lulu Island. Two additional pump stations will be upgraded in 2015. When upgrading pump stations, the City strives to incorporate additional public amenities such as viewing platforms, public art and public washrooms.

Richmond’s drinking water is rated amongst the highest quality public tap water in the world. In order to preserve this high standard and distribute to residents, the City spends millions of dollars annually in renewing and upgrading watermains, along with other important infrastructure such as sanitary and storm sewers. Road safety is an important priority for the city. The Capital Budget includes $8.2 million in funding for road repaving and traffic safety improvements including new traffic signals, traffic calming measures and enhanced crosswalks, as well as pedestrian and cycling improvements.

The City signiﬁcantly expanded its parks and recreation amenities in 2014 with the new Terra Nova Adventure Play Area, Terra Nova Nature Preschool, Railway Greenway and Bike Terrain Park at Garden City Park. The 2015 Capital Budget includes $12.3 million for park development and acquisition including a major redevelopment of Lang Park in the City Centre, the ﬁrst phase of park development on the Garden City Lands, preliminary development of the new Gardens Agricultural Park site and the beginning of work on a new public pier on the Fraser River’s Middle Arm. The City will also commence preliminary design work on a refurbished play area in Steveston Park.

The City’s award-winning Alexandra District Energy Utility (ADEU) will be further developed in 2015. Using renewable thermal energy captured from the earth, the ADEU currently provides heating and cooling for a number of residential complexes and is reducing greenhouse gas emissions by an estimated 500 tonnes annually. After the next phase of expansion ($12.1 million) the ADEU will provide energy for more than 2.3 million square feet of residential, commercial and institutional developments and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by an estimated 1,000 tonnes a year. That’s the equivalent of taking nearly 300 cars off the road. Preliminary work will also begin on the new City Centre District Energy Utility, which will provide energy to new developments in the Oval Village area, using heat recaptured from the sanitary sewer system.

Construction of two new fire halls will begin later this year. The Brighouse No. 1 Fire Hall will be rebuilt on the existing site at Granville and Gilbert. A new Cambie No. 3 Fire Hall will be built on Cambie near No. 4 Road. The new facility will house both a fire hall and an ambulance station. Funding for both projects totalling $43 million was provided through prior year Capital budgets. Since 2002, the City has completed three new fire halls, completed a major upgrade on an existing fire hall and purchased and retrofitted the Richmond Community Safety Building, which is the new home of Richmond RCMP. When the new fire halls are completed by 2017, all of Richmond’s public safety buildings will have been upgraded to post-disaster rating.

Garbage and recycling The 2015 Utilities and Capital budgets include funding for a new organics (food scraps) recycling program for multi-family residences to assist with the transition to the region wide ban on disposal of food scraps as part of household garbage. Multi-family complexes will also have the option of receiving municipal garbage disposal service. The new service will be launched April 1 and extended to all multi-family complexes by July 1.