North Battleford City Hall heard from several non-profit groups and well as police and fire services needs during the first night of 2020 budget deliberations Monday. (file photo/battlefordsNOW Staff)

By Angela Brown

Budget Deliberations 2020

Police, fire, and non-profits focus of first deliberation meeting

Dec 3, 2019 | 1:21 PM

It was an evening of many asks at North Battleford City Hall’s first deliberation meeting Monday for the 2020 budget.

Council heard about police and fire services’ needs as well as eight non-profit organizations hoping the city would continue its grants and support for the year ahead.

“It’s up to council now to weigh all of those requests and to make decisions based on the financial means that we’re faced with in 2020,” Mayor Ryan Bater said following the meeting. “Council has yet to make those decisions.”

Among its upcoming priorities, the North Battleford Fire Department hopes to replace one of its aging pumper trucks, which would cost about $600,000 in total as a capital expense. The proposal indicated the cost could be split over two years in the city’s 2020 and 2021 budgets.

On the policing side, Bater mentioned during the meeting he was aware there was talk of the possibility of a local-region crime reduction unit forming, and enquired about the cost to hire one additional RCMP officer. The North Battleford RCMP detachment currently has 36 members.

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“This is a discussion we want to have with all of our neighbouring municipalities, to see if there is an appetite for everybody to chip in a little bit so that we could have a regional unit focused on our regional needs,” Bater said.

A number of non-profits presented during the meeting. The Empty Stocking Fund, North Battleford Public Transit, Battlefords Concern for Youth, Midwest Food Resources, North Battleford Golf and Country Club, Battlefords and Area Sexual Assault Centre, The Lighthouse Serving the Battlefords, and Twin Rivers Curling Club spoke to council on the past year’s activities and their needs ahead. Many of the groups asked for the city to continue the funds and support they received in the 2019 budget.

The Lighthouse homeless shelter in North Battleford requested a $10,000 increase in its annual grant of $25,000 to meet its needs, adding it lost some funding elsewhere.

“There seems to be less funding for emergency shelter funds,” Mayor Bater said of the issue. “This seems to be something that is across the entire province. We want to do a little more research on that because it is obviously having an impact on our own shelter here at the Lighthouse.”

The mayor added the Lighthouse “is an important facility in our city,” while saying the city will assess its own financial needs and what it can afford to provide during the decision-making process.

The budget deliberation meetings wrap up Dec. 16.

Council is in the process of reviewing the budget during the weeks ahead.

“I expect that if members of council want to make changes or discuss changes to the budget, we will see those at that time – likely on the 16^th which is the last night of deliberations,” Bater said.

The city’s next deliberation meeting will be Dec. 11.

Anyone who wishes to speak during the public forum part of this meeting will need to register with the city before the end of the day on Dec. 4.

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angela.brown@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @battlefordsnow