Hamilton’s planning budget – Balancing act
NRU
Feb. 18, 2015
By Leah Wong
Hamilton’s planning and economic development department is seeking to improve staff workloads and reduce its reliance on funding from reserves to keep up with the city’s pace of development.
Last week Hamilton general committee finished hearing department budget presentations. Planning and economic development general manager Jason Thorne asked committee to consider a $27.1-million net operating budget on February 10. This represents an 8.6 per cent increase from 2014.
The major challenge for planning and economic development is the department’s fiscal model. Thorne told committee the current model is not sustainable and in previous years the department has relied heavily on reserve funds, capital funding and gapping to deliver its programs and services.
“In the past in an effort to manage the reserve balance [planning] has maintained vacancies,” city manager Chris Murray told committee. “Rather than be limited by reserve balances that are not sustainable there is an option to reduce reliance on reserve and transfer it onto the levy.”
While there no additional full-time equivalent positions are proposed for 2015, the department is looking to reduce gapping and fill its current positions to speed up processing of development applications. Planning staff are presently facing heavy workloads—development planners have, on average, 32 files on their desk at any time, double what Thorne says is considered to be best practice.
The department is seeking to fill 27 full-time equivalent vacancies by moving to an operating budget primarily funded through tax levies and fees. This will help meet its goals of having faster and more predictable timelines for reviewing development proposals. By increasing funding through the tax levy the department will be able to reduce the burden on its reserves and reduce the gapping that has kept reserves at a sustainable level.
The development fee stabilization reserve has been declining steadily in recent years as the department has been drawing from it to cover staff expenses. Prior to 2014 approximately $1.0-million—or 12.5 full-time equivalent positions—were funded through the fund. This was reduced in 2014 to about $400,000 and the 2015 budget recommends reducing it to $100,000—or one full-time equivalent. If current rates continue the reserve will be depleted by 2018. Thorne says shifting staff costs onto the levy will stabilize the reserve balance.
Also, by changing how certain positions are funded Thorne says it will eliminate the structural vacancy issue within the department. Presently the planning division has about 50 staff members and 70 positions. It plans to establish approval time benchmarks this year and investing in the vacant positions will affect these timelines. If council approves the change in funding, planner workloads would be reduced to around 20 files at a time.
Of the 8.6 per cent recommended operating increase, 6.3 per cent is non-discretionary. These increases are the result of salary and benefit increases as well as conservative estimates for 2015 revenues. Following a decrease in revenues in the third quarter of 2014, staff has reduced planning revenues by $300,000 for 2015.
Economic development will continue to be a priority for Thorne’s department in 2015 as it is key to achieving the city’s growth mandates.
“Our department is the engine that council is relying upon to drive growth,” said Thorne.
Last year was another successful year for the department and it was the fourth time in five years the city has exceeded $1-billion in building permit values. There has been infill and redevelopment in the downtown areas and continued greenfield growth. The department also made progress on its waterfront project by getting major planning elements in place.
