While some cities are already at the stage where they’re considering their 2020 tax rates, the City of New Westminster is in the throes a process to see what makes the cut in its five-year capital plan.
Public engagement related to the 2020 to 2024 financial plan includes a community workshop and an online survey that is now available. The city’s current focus is on the proposed 2020 to 2024 capital program, which aims to respond to council’s March 2019 declaration of a climate emergency by prioritizing climate emergency actions in the work plan.
In November, council approved “seven bold steps” to address climate change, which relate to a carbon-free corporation, a car-light community, carbon-free homes and buildings, pollution-free vehicles, carbon-free energy, a robust urban forest and a people-centred public realm.
“I think that’s a really good opportunity, not only to engage the community in our budget, but also to engage the community in our seven bold steps for climate change and the city’s strategic plan,” said Mayor Jonathan Cote. “The reality is all of these things are related, and I think we need to have a holistic conversation as opposed to having these conversations in silos.”
The capital program includes things like buildings, engineering structures, land, park improvements, equipment and vehicles.
“It shows that of the $467 million being proposed in the capital program over the next five years, $260 million is considered to support climate emergency through a wide variety of projects,” said Colleen Ponzini, the city’s director of finance.
The Canada Games Pool and Centennial Community Centre replacement project, sustainable transportation with a focus on public realm, walking, cycling and transit, and low-carbon fleet vehicles are some of the items in the capital program that support the city’s efforts to tackle the climate emergency.
In recent weeks, staff have presented council with memos describing how the capital items proposed in their departments align with climate emergency actions and council’s strategic priorities.
In memos to council, staff also outlined initiatives that don’t respond to the climate emergency framework and have been deferred in the five-year capital plan, as well as the risks associated with deferring those projects. As an example, the engineering department has indicated $2.5 million in improvements to the McInnis overpass may need to be deferred, which will result in higher construction costs due to cost escalation.
On Dec. 9, council received a report from chief administrative officer Lisa Spitale regarding some of the projects and initiatives in the draft 2020 to 2024 capital plan and their fit with the city’s strategic plan priorities. Not all of the items included in the draft capital plan were deemed to respond to the climate emergency bold steps, including $175,000 for maintenance of the Samson V maritime museum and $117,800 for restoration of some interior components of Irving House.
Several capital items at Anvil Centre also made the list of projects to be funded, including: $25,000 to purchase Christmas décor required for conferences and Christmas parties; $30,000 for maintenance to the theatre floor; $20,000 to hire a consultant to analyze a freight elevator that’s often out of service; $27,000 to replace damaged dishes for catering at the convention centre; and $75,000 to replace a movable wall system in the ballroom that’s been damaged by air- pressure incidents due to faulty fire alarm system.
Coun. Chuck Puchmayr said the city is currently spending $16,000 a year to rent decorations for the Anvil, but staff is proposing a one-time purchase of $25,000.
“To me that is a no-brainer,” he said. “In the second year you are saving thousands of dollars. I would hate to see that climate emergency as going to delay that.”
The draft capital plan includes $200,000 for the reconciliation initiative. A staff memo said it doesn’t respond to the climate emergency bold steps and budgeting framework, but it does further council’s strategic priority of reconciliation, inclusion and engagement.
Coun. Mary Trentadue disagreed that reconciliation does not align with the climate emergency.
“I think that there is something to be considered here around the climate emergency, and, in my mind, it’s the learnings that we can achieve from our partnerships with Indigenous nations, and I think there is a lot of learnings there regarding the climate emergency,” she said. “So, I would like us not to discount that and to understand how working with Indigenous partners can help us do better work, have a deeper understanding of the climate emergency and their perspective on it.”
Coun. Nadine Nakagawa said it’s key to centre Indigenous people and Indigenous knowledge in the climate-justice framework, even if that wasn’t something that was included when the city originally contemplated reconciliation.
“I do think that reconciliation, decolonization and the climate crisis are intricately tied together,” she said. “I think that is really, really crucial.”
Moody Park resident Christopher Bell appeared at the Dec. 9 council meeting to thank staff for the “herculean efforts” they’ve made to provide data and information on how council’s decision to declare a climate emergency will affect city budgets and to question how the city will determine what lands on the chopping block. He also expressed concern that documents suggest capital funding for arts and culture could drop dramatically in next five years.
“I would say during these turbulent and uncertain times, and fears rise to the surface over climate change and our climate emergency, our arts and culture events, programs and capital projects need a higher emphasis, and not less,” he said. “How do such existential programs get analyzed as to their worth and value within the climate emergency lens?”
Spitale said the city wants to hear from community members about what policies, principles and programs they consider important.
“My aspiration is that it’s an evolving process and it’s iterative because we know that the climate emergency work is longer than this budget process,” she said. “But certainly, this budget process is a good start. And what we haven’t done well we are then hoping to continue to improve next year. It is evolutionary.”
