ELK POINT – Thursday’s lengthy discussion of the 2024 Operating and Capital Budgets at a special meeting of Elk Point Town Council came down to a decision to table the passing of the budget until council’s April 8 regular meeting.
CAO Ken Gwozdz called it “a very difficult budget” due to increased costs for policing, supplies, utilities, the carbon tax, increased maintenance costs, a part-time Public Works position changing to full-time, the municipal controlled corporations, the growth and hemp industries and increased requisitions for the MD of St. Paul Foundation’s plans for a proposed new seniors lodge in St. Paul.
A last minute revision by Director of Corporate and Community Services Lisa Han reduced the budget from a 26 per cent tax increase to 9.2 per cent, with council reducing it even further to 7.5 per cent with cuts to bylaw enforcement and FCSS spending.
The capital budget adds up to less than half of the operating budget, he said, with no increase in taxes, and funds coming from federal and provincial grants, reserves and partnerships with Frog Lake First Nations and private industry.
Mayor Parrish Tung called it “a growth budget” that is very difficult and hard to balance, and said, “Council is doing an extremely good job with less dollars to attract industry and development, so we can grow the region for future generations.”
Airport decision tabled
Also up for discussion on Thursday was a request from the mayor to review the decision to purchase the Elk Point Airport in partnership with the County of St. Paul, and instead to request the County to take over the operation of the airport on June 1, 2024, and to request that the County purchase the airport from the province without the town.
Coun. Dwayne Yaremkevich said he would support the County taking over the airport from the province, which “a lot of MDs and counties are doing.”
But Coun. Jason Boorse was “really hesitant" about doing so, because “we would have no say” regarding a potential consolidation with the St. Paul airport. Coun Tim Smereka’s view was “similar to Jason’s. We would be giving up our ability to draw businesses and the dynamics would change our ability to develop.”
Deputy Mayor Wanda Cochrane asked, regarding partnering with the County, “Can’t we continue to do what we do?”
Mayor Tung moved to send a letter to County of St. Paul Reeve Glen Ockerman asking the county to take over operation of the airport on June 1, with the Town of Elk Point to contact the operating partners to review the operating agreement accordingly, and for the Town of Elk Point support the County of St. Paul to purchase the airport from the province on the condition that the name ‘Elk Point Airport’ stays the same as long as the County owns it, and that the town employee living at the airport be allowed to live there as long as the employee wishes, with the town paying the rent from the employee’s wages.
This motion was defeated three votes to two, with a subsequent motion passed to table the decision on the fate of the airport to the April 8 meeting.
Historical Society
A late addition to Thursday’s agenda did result in a decision. A request from Marvin Bjornstad of the Elk Point Historical Society for the Town to contribute $50 per month to the cost of renting storage space at the Northern Lights Library System for the Society’s accumulation of materials from many organizations and scheduled to be digitally recorded, was approved.
The Society is also asking the County of St. Paul for a similar request, with the Society also paying the same amount.
