Bonnyville Town Council and administration held its 2014 budget open house Dec. 3, with the first draft of the operational budget indicating an increase of more than $1 million in both estimated revenue and expenses for 2014.
After a balancing of the books last year enabled the town to implement a zero per cent tax increase, council is expecting to see a $176,500 difference between its revenue and expenses in 2014, which could potentially equate to a 2.75 per cent tax increase for town residents. This year the town is expecting to see revenues reach $20,552,065, while expenses will top out at $20,728,611.
CAO Mark Power led the presentation, pointing towards the planned $2.2 million in public works spending, which typically deals with the maintenance and development of roads, water lines and sewage, along with the annual increase in salaries and utility bills as the primary reason for the jump.
Elsewhere, the town has budgeted to spend close to $1.8 million to finance emergency services in the town, including RCMP, fire and ambulance services, as well as committing over $800,000 to the Centennial Centre and $170,000 to several other community recreation programs.
Power also introduced the first draft of the town's five-year capital plan, with hefty projects such as the proposed $7.2 million North Point road and drainage redevelopment project and the $5 million Eastgate project, which will see both residential and non-residential properties emerging on the east side of town in the next few years, included in the 2014 capital budget. Also included was a sizeable $3 million project under the town's infrastructure replacement program, with both the east and west side of 51 Avenue up for development over the next few years. Administration also included the $6 million regional water line project in the budget, even though it does not anticipate that to come to fruition until 2015.
Deputy Mayor John Irwin, sitting in for Mayor Gene Sobolewski as he recovers from a broken leg, said he felt it was a “fairly positive” budget overall.
“I think this is a positive budget. We gave administration a lot of direction with regards to what projects (we'd like to see done) and what would be acceptable from a (tax increase) side. So, they have done a very good job getting back to us,” Irwin said. “I don't think the increase is going to be too hard for people to swallow. At the end of the day we have a responsibility to keep our infrastructure in good shape.”
He added, “We need to ensure we do our bit to help build this town and keep it in good shape. Our job as a council is to be looking 30, 40 or maybe 50 years ahead. We need to build it for the next generation and I think we're taking some very positive steps for that.”
Irwin pointed towards some of the town's larger capital projects, such as the one at North Point and the infrastructure development projects as key to helping the town continue to develop into the future.
“I think North Point is the big one on our capital plan, but we're going to have to wait and see if the landowners out there will agree for the project to go ahead. We're not sure if that will fall into place yet,” Irwin said. “Then we have some other things from public works, notably the overlay program. I think we're looking at 46 Street and 51 Avenue there at the moment.
“We recently met with our MP Brian Storseth and one of the things he said he was hoping to see coming forward into 2014 was the Building Canada fund. The way that works is the federal government will pay for one third of a project, the provincial government will pay for one third and the municipality will pay for one third. Brian feels it's Bonnyville's turn for that, so hopefully we'll see something come through there.”
He emphasized just how important it was for the town to invest in its infrastructure, before stating how pleased he was with the proposed 2014 budget.
“As Main Street gets busier, we really need to start looking at other ways to move people through our community, and that's what this overlay program will hopefully do,” Irwin said. “At the end of the day, I'm quite happy with the budget. We're not hammering anybody too hard. Last year we had a zero per cent increase, but as we commit to funding more projects and developing our roads and sideways we need to understand that costs money. So a small increase (is necessary).”
Council will be adopting the interim operating and capital budget at tonight's (Dec. 10) regular council meeting, while administration will wait for the annual provincial assessment in February next year to come in before finalizing changes to the budget in April, and making a final decision on the tax rate in May.
