Residents can breathe a sigh of relief after the Town of Bonnyville nixed a tax increase for 2019.
During their regular meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 27, council decided against the proposed two per cent raise in municipal taxes and made suggestions to balance the $324,900 operating deficit.
Operational budget
Council crunched the numbers on where they could move funds around during budget deliberations.
Mayor Gene Sobolewski proposed deferring the annual contribution of $30,000 to the lagoon reserve and reducing the yearly equipment replacement transfers by $115,000 instead of the rise in taxes, while covering the remaining deficit of $320,000 from municipal reserves.
Moving the $5,000 slated for emergency operation centre equipment to 2020 was also suggested.
“When things get better, it’s a lot easier to top the (reserves) up, and repay that,” noted Sobolewski.
Coun. Chad Colbourne also wanted to hold the line on the tax rate, and said given the economic climate, he was comfortable finding a feasible way to do it.
On the other hand, Coun. Ray Prevost recommended a minor adjustment to taxes now to prevent a significant jump in the future.
“We didn’t have an increase last year, and I just think with the forecast coming down the line with limited revenue, we’ve got to set ourselves up so we don’t have a larger increase next year,” he said.
Coun. Brian McEvoy agreed, noting the estimated increase of inflation was slightly higher than the proposed tax increment.
He said, “I’ve seen councils over the years get stuck into this zero routine, and all of a sudden, they need seven per cent. I would rather see the one, and possibly one again next year, to stay a little closer to inflation so we don’t get hurt in the long-run.”
Sobolewski noted based on property assessments completed in the spring, the town could see an increase in taxes collected, and stressed the importance of council doing what they can right now.
“There’s going to be a lot of people living on a limited income, and I would rather hold it to zero.”
Other suggestions to balance the budget included reducing or cancelling the annual equipment replacement transfer, not attending the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) conference, and lessening contributions to organizations.
Administration made changes to some of the figures this time around, as some numbers weren’t included or concrete when council saw the first draft.
The budget for elected officials’ salaries went up by $23,189 to include the aquatic committee meetings, more consultation for the regional waterline, and an increase to media interviews.
Receptions and public relations jumped by of $7,500 to include the Ronald MacDonald House Winter Wonderland tournament and the Oil and Gas Show, bringing the total to $56,500.
The town added $50,000 to contracted police expenses due to the request of an additional RCMP member. That will raise the number of officers to 13, and will bring the amount budgeted to $1.5-million.
Capital budget
It was all about the impact the feasibility and visioning report would have on current pools renovations, and the updated airport expansion project. The 2019 capital budget is forecasted to have a $337,740 deficit.
In the draft, $30,000 was included for the completion of the aquatics centre feasibility and visioning study.
Renovations for the current pool and how much of the $1.25-million included in the budget should be used for upgrades was considered.
“We’ve basically finished the must-do (renovations), with the roof being done right now. Once the roof is done, we have most of the must-dos taken care of. We’re into the should-dos, and we probably will need to review those to make sure they aren’t must-dos,” CAO Mark Power noted.
Coun. Rene Van Brabant suggested putting some of the money aside to assist with paying for a new aquatics facility.
“If you save the money and put it into a reserve, it will be that much less for them to be put into a debenture. If you look at how much you’re going to have to borrow to build a swimming pool, 20-years down the road you’re still going to be looking at a lot of money per household,” he expressed.
Power noted the airport redevelopment plan numbers weren’t included in the draft, as the committee had discussed more concrete costs shortly before the budget was presented to council.
“The committee passed a recommendation to both (the town and MD) councils that they look at a phased approach to the airport redevelopment (project). The first phase is approximately $600,000 if we share it with the MD... it would be at $300,000 (each),” Power detailed.
If included for 2019, the endeavour would increase the town’s capital deficit to $637,000.
It’s estimated this year the municipality will receive $1.4-million in provincial grants, $3.7-million from the ID 349 agreement, and roughly $1.7-million of uncommitted funds from the MD’s Inter-municipal Cooperation Program (ICP). They’re anticipating this money will help offset the deficit.
The town included a $25,000 contribution for the purchase of a new ambulance, and $5.4-million for the regional waterline.
Sobolewski suggested allocating money toward a feasibility study for the location of an arts facility, specifically in relation to the C2.
The only remaining project requiring costs estimates for 2019 at the time of deliberations was the trail upgrades, which administration hopes to include in the next draft of the budget.
The revised budgets will be available for discussion during a public open house at the town hall on Dec. 4 at 6 p.m.
