The Regional District of Fraser-Fort George has begun hammering out its 2015 budget.
On Wednesday afternoon, the board of directors gave preliminary approval to $27.9 million worth of expenses for 20 service areas. Tax dollars will fund $12 million of that budget, with the rest picked up by user feels, sale of services, grants and reserve funds.
The 2015 financial plan reflects a 3.5 per cent increase in expenses over 2014.
The regional district is continuing to practice a zero-based budgeting approach, said chief administrator Jim Martin.
"Staff try and find places where there's budget savings," Martin said. "We want to make sure we're on top of our budgets and are always looking for ways of making sure we're not putting unusual stress on budgets and increasing them unnecessarily."
Much of this year's increase is due to proposed capital projects for the upcoming year, said Martin.
Bearing the biggest piece of the budget pie is the regional district's solid waste budget, which amounts to about $13.8 million. Plans to spend $3.5 million more than in 2014 can be attributed to plans to upgrade pollution control infrastructure at the Foothills landfill and relocate its entrance.
"The upgrades to landfill gas collection system will improve efficiency and prepare for potential beneficial use projects. Connecting the onsite leachate collections system to the city's waste water collection and treatment system will reduce potential risk for environmental impacts drastically and support future site development strategies," said environmental services general manager Petra Wildauer.
Moving the entrance to the Foothills Boulevard dump will aid in the future development to the northwest of the site, she said, and there are also plans to convert the Mackenzie regional landfill into a full-service transfer station.
Despite the increased expenses, the solid waste budget also features a 21.5 per cent decrease (nearly $820,000) in the amount of requisitioned tax dollars.
Tipping fee revenue was up last year by more than $737,000, which Martin said was a one-time surplus due to a large number of construction - specifically demolition - projects.
Tipping fees will continue to rise this year and reach $72 per tonne, as per the regional district's solid waste master plan approved in 2013 that calls for those fees to increase annually until it hits a maximum of $90 per tonne.
Another major budget area is 911 services, which is worth $3.9 million. In 2014, the regional district saved $365,000 in operating costs by not renewing its contract with the RCMP and switching to the E-Comm call-answer system in the Lower Mainland in the fall.
More of the regional district's budget items will be discussed at a Feb. 11 committee of the whole meeting and final consideration of the year's budget will take place in March.
