Town of Bonnyville council crunched the numbers to eliminate a two per cent tax increase in the 2019 budget.
During their Tuesday, Nov. 27 meeting, council made adjustments to the second draft of the 2019 operating and capital budgets ahead of presenting them at the Dec. 4 open house.
They decided against a proposed two per cent tax increase, which was included as a way of balancing the budget in the first drafts presented to council during the Oct. 23 meeting.
Mayor Gene Sobolewski encouraged council to bring the tax increase down, and to look at projects that could be eliminated or reduced to cover the deficit instead.
Suggestions to council from administration to balance the operating budget deficit included cancelling the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) conference, reducing contributions to organizations, and lowering or cancelling the annual equipment replacement transfer.
Postponing the annual lagoon contribution to reserve and reducing the equipment replacement transfers were among Sobolewski's suggestions. The remaining deficit would be covered by municipal reserves.
Coun. Elisa Brosseau agreed with removing the tax increase, adding council should also consider their contributions to local organizations.
"We have to be mindful of if we're going (to events), we're also getting paid for our time to go. It's not just to pay for a table or seat," she expressed, adding council could still financially support these events.
For the capital budget, the forecasted deficit is around $337,740.
Anticipated funds from provincial grants, ID 349 grant contributions, and uncommitted dollars from the MD's Inter-municipal Cooperation Program (ICP) would help cover some of that cost.
CAO Mark Power noted a change to the airport redevelopment plan for the 2019 draft capital budget hadn't been updated at this point, after the airport committee met and discussed more concrete numbers.
"I can tell you, the (airport) committee passed a recommendation to both councils that they look at a phased approach to the airport redevelopment," he explained.
The first phase of the project could cost approximately $600,000, which the committee suggested the town share with the MD of Bonnyville for 2019.
Limiting the number of renovations to the current pool ahead of the feasibility and visioning study was also an area recommended to reduce costs.
"We're going to turn our attention more on keeping the lights on until you shut (the current pool) down, which will be two to three years down the road when the new facility is ready," assistant CAO Bill Rogers noted.
Administration will make any requested changes to the operating and capital budgets before the Dec. 4 open house.
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Library expresses interest in relocating
The Bonnyville Library Board has expressed an interest in relocating to the Centennial Centre, because of their need to expand.
After being approached by the C2 to fill some empty space left by Portage College leaving the facility, the library began to discuss the possibility of moving.
In the 2019 capital budget draft, future library development and renovations has $1.5-million allocated, which is pending council's review of the spending plan.
Sobolewski said he was glad to see the library show interest, and administration has some work to do to include that in the draft of the capital budget.
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Town offers easier way to pay taxes
Bonnyville residents can now pay their bills to the town via credit card and interac e-transfer, by downloading an application called PayTM.
Director of finance Renee Stoyles said it's free to download and administration has already tested it out.
"They don't charge the town any service fees, as well, they don't charge the resident any service fees. There are rebates that users can get at different stores (for paying through the application)," she added.
Some rewards options include Esso, Uber, Tim Hortons, Amazon, and Cineplex.
The town can also accept payments via e-transfer now that administration has the proper training. Anyone interested just has to contact them for more details.
"There's no security question like there would be if you were doing it from me to you... An email comes to the finance email to say '(someone) has just sent a payment', and it's set to the online banking to accept it," Stoyles explained.
After administration receives the alert, they money would be distributed accordingly.
Northern Lights Library System levy increased
Council approved the requested levy increase for the Northern Lights Library System (NLLS) of eight cents per capita.
According to Rogers, the additional dollars were included in the second draft of the budget and wasn't a significant increase from 2018.
Altogether, it adds up to approximately $5.15 per capita to bring the town's total contribution to NLLS to $33,073 for 2019.
NLLS suggested the change in order to prevent a deficit in their 2019 budget.
