Water and sewer budgets are separate from the general operating budget. These budgets are meant to be self-funded through parcel tax (capital costs) and user fees (operational costs). Based on the current information on the cost of these services and without knowing the actual water consumption of the residents we are estimating the fees going forward. Once we have more data, through the universal water metering program, we will be able to refine those fees. Currently, based on our water production, it appears that Merritt residents are using 3-4 times the national per capita average. We do not have a valid reason for this extremely high-water usage. The implementation of water metres and the data we generate will help us to determine if all the water we are producing is being used by the residents or if there are losses in the system. Once we have this data, and address usage statistics through conservation and potential system loss repairs and upgrades, we may be able to find savings in both our water and sewer operations.

This is based on the BC Assessment Roll and is the average of that roll for the City of Merritt.

General Government budget includes wages for the Director of Corporate Services/Corporate Officer, Committee Clerk, Communications and Engagement, and IT staff. Other expenses include advertising and marketing costs, software costs for all departments, and municipal election costs.

We are mandated to provide a level of service that ensures there is no negative impact on residents’ insurance rates. Insurers require that homeowners have a hydrant within a certain distance of the property and a fire department with specific apparatus accessible within a certain response time, or a property may be uninsurable or have a significant increase in cost of insurance. The Fire Department has been successful in finding efficiencies, namely in their staffing model – the Work Experience Program and its firefighters offset the cost of added career staffing, allowing the current level of service in light of the volunteer firefighter staffing crisis experienced. Call volume continues to rise year after year, with a 22% increase in 2024 over the previous year. Additionally, the Fire Department offsets much of its operational costs by entering into fire protection agreements for areas outside municipal boundaries.

Unrestricted reserve means those monies in savings that are not allocated to a specific capital project or service category but can be used to finance any capital project.

Given that we can not control assessment values this is a challenging question to answer. If the assessment values drop in the current year, then we generate less revenue. If there is a large or sustained decrease in assessment values, then residents will have to decide between increases in taxes to maintain current levels of services or reducing levels of service to minimize tax increases. Reducing levels of service often means reducing staff and that some things may not happen as often, such as garbage pick up or mowing parks and sports fields, or closing facilities such as the pool or the arena.

The City received a grant to purchase the water meters. We will install them at every residence and will monitor the water usage between the pumped system input and the end user consumption. This will enable the City to identify excess use versus system losses and initiate further conservation efforts or repairs and capital upgrades before we decide how to properly invoice for usage.

We have multiple wells, some working at maximum capacity and some working at only 2% capacity. With upper and lower aquifers, reservoirs, river dependency, we need the lower wells, in the deep aquifers to be running at a higher capacity, which is impacted by manganese levels in the aquifer. By designing and implementing a treatment system to reduce the manganese levels, we will have a greater water supply available to the community. It is important to acknowledge the ongoing draught conditions in the area and that water conservation is a global concern. We have a water licensing requirements set by the Province that we must adhere to. Many of our restrictions are related to the river dependency in the summer rather than our ability to draw water from our wells.

Post-flood work was conducted to ensure the plant was operational, but it is well past its life expectancy. Several issues that were very prevalent as a result of the flood need to be corrected in the plant to ensure the impacts of such an event in the future can be mitigated. The current processes need to be modernized to ensure that there is no failure in the near to distant future. We have also reached the capacity of the system so any more significant growth in the community will need a larger system.

Fire departments protecting mid-sized communities replace their apparatus every 20 years based on guidelines set by the Fire Underwriters Survey (FUS) in Canada. This organization assesses a community’s fire protection capabilities, including the reliability and effectiveness of firefighting equipment, such as fire engines and ladder trucks. As apparatus age, their performance declines, which can lower fire protection ratings and lead to higher insurance premiums for residents and businesses. The 20-year replacement guideline ensures fire departments maintain a dependable, efficient fleet, ultimately helping to keep insurance rates stable for the community.

Fire departments must also maintain a fleet with a minimum pumping capacity, such as 3,300 GPM for Merritt, to ensure an adequate water supply for firefighting operations. This requirement directly influences the type of fire apparatus purchased, ensuring the fleet meets both current and future demands. Pumping capacity requirements—and potential future increases—are shaped by community growth, building density, and hydrant coverage, allowing fire protection services to evolve alongside development.

Currently reducing the contracted number of RCMP members is no longer being recommended as an option, rather, budgeting different is the recommended option. Our contract is for 17 members, 10 of whom would be considered “general duty” constables. These are the constables that provide that frontline 24 hour policing service. At this time due to vacancies, our detachment has 16/17 positions staffed but we also have two members on extended leave. This puts us at about a 20% vacancy rate, which aligns with the RCMP’s provincial vacancy rate. If we budget for fewer members but keep our contract number of 17, then you should not see any change in level of service.

Provincially, the RCMP is running a vacancy rate of 20-25% of positions. This means there are no detachments that are fully staffed. Some of these vacancies are a result of insufficient recruitment. Some of the “vacant” positions actually have staff attached to them but they are on extended leaves, such as sick or parental.

In BC, municipal RCMP detachments in municipalities between 5,000 and 15,000 residents have a 70% municipality and 30% federal funding cost share.

No, there are 31 communities with higher tax rates as of 2024. It is important to note that when a Council elects not to raise taxes but maintain the level of service provided to residents, the funds must come from somewhere, and that typically means it comes from reserves. When we take money from reserves to fund operations, or do not put money into reserves, that means that we do not have funds available to properly repair, renew, or replace equipment and infrastructure, and it certainly leaves no funds available for new infrastructure. Typically, staff search for grants to offset the cost of infrastructure projects, but these grants usually require a 50% municipal co-pay. This means that if we have a $20 million-dollar project we have to have $10 million dollars of municipal funds available or we will not receive the funding.

As a community grows the number of staff required at all levels of the organization increases. As a municipality we are also seeing increased scrutiny, more legislation, and more reporting requirements on our daily operations and our grant funding. We are being asked to do more with no change in funding from the higher levels of government.

As a part of the 2024 budget two senior leadership positions were removed and amalgamated into other departments. This allowed us to create more manager roles and save money. We are always looking for ways to be more efficient with our staff dollars, including using grant money to implement key positions that we don’t have operational funds to create.

As a complex organization we must also consider succession planning, recruitment and retention of employees. This means creating the right levels within the organization to allow people to see growth and stay with the organization for the long term.

It is extremely challenging to compare one municipality’s staffing level to another because it is dependent on the levels of service that the community expects. Lower levels of service may require fewer employees and higher levels of service will require more employees.

The number of Council members in a municipality may be established in letters patent or in a municipal bylaw. If neither apply, the number is established by legislation based on the population of a municipality; City’s or Districts with a population under 50,000 must have a mayor and six councillors. If we were a Town or Village we would be required to have a mayor and four councillors.

On December 15, 1964, the letters patent were amended to establish the Town of Merritt from the Village of Merritt; on May 14, 1980 the letters patent were amended again to establish the City of Merritt. Following the amendment of the letters patent in 1980 the City Council increased in size from one Mayor and 4 Councillors to one Mayor and six Councillors as per legislation.

If a Council wishes to change the number of Council members, it must pass a bylaw to establish the number of Council members; Council must receive the assent of the electors if it wishes to reduce the number of Council members. Council member remuneration is established by Bylaw 2266 which was adopted on August 27, 2019.

The annual rate for remuneration of the Mayor was established at $36,582 with an annual increase based on CPI; the base rate for Councillors is set at $17,394, with an annual increase based on CPI. A recent survey of similarly sized municipalities follows: