Estevan residents will have to wait a little longer to find out how much their taxes and water bills are going up.
A decision on both was expected at Monday's regular meeting of city council. However, Mayor Gary St. Onge noted during his annual address to open the new year that a final decision will be delayed for a couple of weeks as the City continues to fine tune its budget numbers.
"There are a few areas that we need to discuss yet and some areas where we haven't decided what we are going to do," said St. Onge.
Although there was a delay, it doesn't appear any nasty surprises are on the horizon. In a recent interview with The Mercury, St. Onge said he expects taxes will rise by roughly four per cent and water bills will see a five per cent hike. He reiterated those same numbers at Monday's meeting.
"We'll know for sure where we are sitting at the Jan. 24 meeting," he said.
In other highlights from the mayor's 2011 address, he took a look back at the past year and noted that although the above-average rainfall the area received provided a significant challenge for the City they were able to accomplish most of the work on their schedule.
In looking ahead. St. Onge said there are a lot of reasons to be excited about the upcoming year.
Spectra Place, which was one of the city projects most negatively affected by the weather, is on pace for a March opening. The final arena fundraising dinner is set for March 25 with Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Brian Burke as the featured speaker. The grand opening of the facility is scheduled for April 15 with Canadian rockers Kim Mitchell and Tom Cochrane providing the entertainment. St. Onge said tickets for the concert will be going on sale soon.
Also in conjunction with Spectra Place, the parking lot that is used by patrons of the Civic Auditorium and Souris Valley Aquatic and Leisure Centre will finally be paved this year. Decorative curbing and trees will also be part of the project.
The mayor expects recycling will continue to be a big issue in 2011. The City is exploring the possibility of door-to-door recycling in Estevan and plan to hold a public meeting in the spring to gauge interest.
On a down note, St. Onge said it appears a final decision on the proposed truck bypass around Estevan will be delayed until the fall due to the change in the bypass' western intersection which has been moved further northwest.
"(The province) claims by the time the environmental study is done it could well be fall, which means that we would miss another construction season," said St. Onge. "We are in the process of dealing with out federal and provincial elected officials to see if this can be speeded up because we are quite disappointed in the timeline."
It was also noted that 2011 is a census year in Canada and St. Onge said the City will work with the federal government to ensure that a more accurate figure is tabulated this time around. The last census was held roughly four years ago and Estevan's population was set at 10,400, a figure the City said was very low.
St. Onge said the government has told them that a key to an accurate census is getting good enumerators who know the city well.
"Our health card figures last month indicated that we are nearing 13,000 people in the city, so we are certainly looking forward to the city to see that these health figures are indeed accurate."
