BONNYVILLE – The 2021 interim budgets were approved by Town of Bonnyville council.
There was a two per cent municipal tax increase included, though that had dropped from six per cent proposed to an earlier draft of the budgets. The municipality was notified during the budget process that it is anticipating to receive roughly $6.8-million from ID 349 funding.
After looking at the changes presented by administration and taking into account the feedback gathered during the Dec. 1 open house, council passed the interim budgets during the regular meeting on Tuesday, Dec. 8.
Municipal tax increase could be coming
The operational budget that was presented by administration was balanced at $21.95-million.
There were a few ways that the previous deficit was dealt with.
“This draft includes a two per cent tax increase, a decrease in power costs for the landfill transfer station of $10,800, and the addition of ID 349 funds in the amount of $1.2-million to balance it,” explained director of finance Renee Stoyles.
Coun. Chad Colbourne believes the municipality is being "fiscally responsible" with this interim budget.
“I think we’ve been very savvy and smart looking at a two per cent increase this year, even though we have some ID 349 funding coming in,” he noted.
A potential change in water rates could also occur in 2021 as a result of the regional waterline being completed. Mayor Gene Sobolewski asked if the municipality would need to offset any additional costs when it came to water and sewer charges.
CAO Bill Rogers responded, “Before the final budget, it’s our plan to come to you with a multi-year financial plan that includes the plan for this budget. We’re going to be looking at the recommended tax increase we have here in the interim budget, we’re going to be looking at the service charges and analysis of what we do now, and a recommendation as to how we should deal with those, and we’re also going to be looking at future years as well. We’re not necessarily going to tell you that we’re not going to recommend you do any tax increases, what we’re telling you is that we will bring a package that looks at all of that other stuff as you requested at the budget open house for your consideration . . . and we’ll do it before the final budget.”
The reserve transfers for this version included $119,430 from the landfill reserve to fund the landfill liability, which would be funded from any year-end surplus first, $1.05-million from the local improvement reserve to fund the local improvement taxes, and $20,000 from the general reserve to increase funding for Canada Day activities, which was carried over from 2020.
The town is anticipating to collect $4.18-million in municipal taxes as a result of the two per cent increase, while commercial taxes were expected to be $2.85-million.
According to Coun. Ray Prevost, the senior's requisition will decrease in 2021.
“The Lakeland Lodge and Housing have lowered their requisition from $800,000 to $500,000 as we said we would three or four years ago as a result of Bonnylodge probably being full in the next five to six weeks.”
The grant provided to the Bonnyville and District Chamber of Commerce dropped by $8,000 to $17,000 as the town’s sponsorship for the annual chili cook-off was deferred until 2022.
Another line that saw a decrease was the receptions and public relations by $27,5000 due to a number of galas and events being cancelled.
Administration included $20,000 to cover the costs of the upcoming 2021 municipal election.
Expenses for police services are anticipated to be about $2.31-million, with $30,000 put toward building maintenance and repairs for the local detachment.
Council waiting to make final decisions on projects
Council opted to deal with the anticipated $17.49-million deficit in the capital budget by funding 2021 projects from future capital funds until 2020 year-end is completed and the final capital budget is reviewed prior to setting the 2021 mill rate.
Administration did suggest deferring roughly $18.88-million worth of projects to 2022, including $923,735 for the annual overlay program, $1.5-million for the library expansion project, $2-million for decommissioning the water treatment plant, rehab work on the Pontiac Park Road for $1.5-million, $30,000 for the fine arts feasibility study, among others.
According to Stoyles, the town is anticipating $1.7-million in grant funds from the province and $5.6-million of the ID 349 money was included in the capital budget.
“No revenue line has been added for funding in the Intermunicipal Collaboration Framework (ICF) as this remains unknown,” she added.
Streets and paving for public works has an anticipated budget of $2.79-million, with $200,000 put toward a crosswalk at A&W and $2.22-million put toward the annual overlay patching program.
The airport expenses dropped down to zero this year as the municipality transferred ownership of the facility over to the MD of Bonnyville in 2020.
Connecting the Jesse Lake Trail to the MD of Bonnyville’s trail on 66th St. had $1.1-million put toward it under the parks and sportsfield section.
One item council discussed potentially adding to the budget was some funds to go toward building a pool.
“The sooner we get on that, the better I would assume,” said Colbourne. “As the City of Cold Lake is making some moves with their pool and the Town of Lac La Biche getting approval for their pool, at this point in time, we already lose business to Cold Lake for shopping and cheaper gas prices, I would hate to see some of our recreation being lost to Lac La Biche.”
Rogers noted administration has been discussing the best ways to move forward with this as an aquatics centre feasibility study was completed in 2019 but COVID-19 prevented it from being presented this year.
“A lot of our capital planning was put on hold this year, partly as a result of COVID-19, decreased revenues with ID 349, and discussions we’ve had with the MD about the ICF,” he detailed, adding one of the ways to complete it is planning it over a multi-year period and administration would come up with the best way to accomplish that.
“What we had thought of doing was have the consultants come out and bring the aquatics study to a joint meeting of both councils.”
