The MD of Bonnyville has made recreation a priority with their 2019 revised interim budget.
“We’re looking at making the area attractive to visitors, tourists, and also to those who are living here. We want to increase people’s quality of life and give them the opportunity to enjoy the natural beauty we have here,” expressed Reeve Greg Sawchuk.
The balanced $116.8-million revised interim budget includes over $8.3-million in recreational upgrades, new facilities, and projects. The residential mill rate is currently in-line with last year, however, it doesn’t take into account the mandated school and seniors requisitions.
Over $3-million is slated for updates to the Cold Lake MD Park.
“This was something that was proposed many years ago, and didn’t end up making it through. We’ve seen that campground be sold out non-stop throughout the summer, so there was definitely a demand for it. There was also a demand for full-service and larger sites there,” explained Sawchuk. “We also contacted the City of Cold Lake prior to and spoke to them, and they were also fully in favour of the expansion of that park.”
The Kinosoo Ridge Adventure Park is budgeted at $1.9-million, a project Sawchuk is enthusiastic to see complete.
“The initial work on the adventure park will be done, which will really be an exciting thing when it finally opens.”
The municipality has set aside $1.6-million for upgrades to the Vezeau Beach boat launch and campground after taking ownership of the property.
“The (Ardmore and Fort Kent) fire halls are vital to the safety of our hamlets and the surrounding areas. It’s going to be exciting to see those go up… (The existing halls) are pretty rudimentary, there’s not a whole lot there,” detailed Sawchuk.
The new halls take up $5-million of their budget.
Although roads are not their main priority for the year, Sawchuk explained that there are a few line items dedicated to this area.
“There will still be lots on the go, like on the recreation-side of things, and there are some roads projects that have made the cut, but there has definitely been a pullback on the number,” he stated.
Projects include $5.5-million for Wolf Lake Rd., $3-million for Range Rd. 485 from Twp. Rd. 624 to 630, $1.2-million for Twp. Rd. 640 from Range Rd. 471 to 473, $1-million for Twp. Rd. 622 from Range Rd. 435 to 440, $1-million for the realignment of Range Rd. 415-415A, north of Twp. Rd 615, and $700,000 for Twp. Rd. 630 from Cold Lake to Range Rd. 415.
The MD has also included the reconstruction of Lessard Bridge at a cost of $600,000.
Council’s decision to take a step back from road projects came after “taking a hard look at the MD’s finances and how money was being spent,” Sawchuk explained.
According to Sawchuk, CAO Luc Mercier brought in a Chartered Professional Accountant to conduct an audit of the MD’s finances from the last 10 years.
“From that, they found a lot of inefficiencies that could be improved. Going forward, that’s going to help us with our decision making, but it will change the way the MD operates.”
Although the mill rates won’t be calculated until late March, the MD is predicting residential taxes will see a bit of a dip again this year because of a decrease in property assessments.
In terms of their small business sub tax class, the municipality will be keeping it in their budget for 2019.
“The small business tax class is vital. We’ve seen that our economy just keeps taking hit after hit, and there’s no possible way you can raise taxes in this environment,” Sawchuk stressed. “It’s actually going to get another break, because on the non-residential side, we’re dropping the mill rate there by 0.5.”
Mercier agreed, “It’s definitely important to keep that small business tax class in there to keep the differentiation between the small businesses, larger businesses, and industry... Without doing so would keep everyone on the same playing field.”
Other expenses expected for 2019 are the regional waterline at a cost of $1.4-million, $800,000 for drainage improvements on Moose Lake and Crane Lake, $300,000 to provide power at Crane Lake East, Minnie Lake East, and Chicken Hill Lake campgrounds, $60,000 for the Bonnyville SPCA’s services in the MD, developing a staging area at the Beaver River Trestle has a price tag of $100,000, and putting in a North Shore Trail that would connect the Moose Lake and Iron Horse trails is coming in at a cost of $300,000.
The municipality will also be pitching in $1.4-million for the Cold Lake RCMP building, $950,000 for the Cold Lake Bike Park, $500,000 each for the Bonnyville and Cold Lake airports, and the $500,000 previously allocated for the Glendon outdoor recreational facility.
The Seniors’ Transportation Grant has a price tag of $60,000, and the MD has included $575,000 in their budget for capital and operating costs to community halls and societies.
About $6-million has been set aside for the Inter-municipal Cooperation Program (IMCP), which Mercier explained “are inter-municipal agreements that we have with out partners today. The Inter-municipal Collaborative Framework (ICF) is something that the province is dictating down to municipalities to ensure we all have long-term standing agreements with all of our partners, who are our adjacent municipalities, so that we can provide services effectively and that we help share in the provisions of those services.”
In terms of revenue, the MD is predicting over $76-million in property taxes, $5,700 in general bylaw fines, $260,000 from other fines collected by the municipality, $10.6-million in government transfers, and $33,000 in non-government grants.
In order to balance the budget, council transferred $12-million from surplus, which are reserve dollars carried over from projects and funds remaining from the previous year’s budget.
Sawchuk described their 2019 budget as “a reset year for the MD.”
“We’ve taken a different approach to the budget this year with respect to how we’re proceeding in the future. Council has made a very conscious effort to look at our overall infrastructure and over the next three to four months, council’s goal is to come up with an infrastructure master plan, specifically with our transportation and utilities department,” Mercier detailed. “That way, future progress with respect to new construction, rebuilds, maintenance of all of our roads, water and sewer, and infrastructure is done based on an overall plan.”
He continued, “It’s a long-term plan so that council is able to make more effective decisions on our overall sustainability as a municipality, so that decisions can be made with the long-term in the back of our minds, as opposed to something that helps us in the short-term.”
Council passed their interim revised budget during their committee meeting on Wednesday, Feb. 20, but won’t be finalizing the budget until the spring.
