Jerry Presented the petition-and we got a mention in the paper

City staff touting balanced budgets Council waiting to hear how $30m shortfall was eliminated

By MICHAEL LIGHTSTONE City Hall Reporter

City hall’s 2010-11 draft operating and capital budgets are balanced, municipal staff told a regional council meeting Tuesday.Senior finance staff said the $30-million gap between Halifax Regional Municipality’s projected revenues and its expenditures has been eliminated. But councillors don’t know yet how that was achieved, and they haven’t given the bottom line their blessing.The city’s proposed budgets will be tabled next Tuesday.Mayor Peter Kelly said council will learn where cuts were made, and user fees potentially in­creased, when budget deliber­ations begin later this month. He acknowledged a tax rate hike is now an unlikely scenario.“Any potential tax increase would be a last resort, and staff heard that message (from coun­cil) and they heard all the other issues and options," the mayor told The Chronicle Herald after the meeting.Technically, a tax rate increase remains a remote possibility, Kelly said.

Council on Tuesday approved $16.4 million in advanced fund­ing for projects in the proposed capital budget. That didn’t sit well with Coun. Sue Uteck (Northwest Arm-South End), who wondered if it was premature to authorize the monetary move.“I don’t want all these projects to proceed and go to tender be­fore the 18th," she said.Some capital projects have already started, staff said, so that the city could take advantage of the relatively short construction season.The municipality is required by law to balance its books. Staff have been working for weeks to wipe out the budget shortfall but the politicians must still decide which amounts of money get earmarked for what purposes.Staff said there is some flexibil­ity there.Coun. Bob Harvey (Lower Sackville) told his colleagues that “we’re jumping the gun" on next week’s tabling of the estimates.“The budget’s going to come back next week (and) surprise, surprise, it’s not going to have a $30-million deficit or gap," he said. “It’s going to be a balanced budget like all the other 20 I’ve seen come before council."

In other business, council met in secret to approve a payout of almost $14,000 stemming from an accident claim against the municipality.Kelly said a mishap years ago in Dartmouth resulted in undis­closed property damage. The city settled with an unnamed insur­ance company; no details from a confidential staff report will be released.

Also, Coun. Jerry Blumenthal (Halifax North End) presented a 707-name petition calling for a fence in Seaview Park to keep dogs using the off-leash section of the park from frolicking in other areas near other park users.He said it’s a safety issue.The park is the former site of the black community of Afric­ville. The north-end spot is a national heritage site, and pro­posed new structures there are key elements of a multimillion­dollar redress package announced in February. (mlightstone@herald.ca)