Lac La Biche County's financial plan for next year — and years to come — has been approved by council. The 2019 Budget was finalized and approved last week, with operating costs pegged at $57.9 million and capital spending tagged for around $31.3 million.
New this year, the 2019 budget document is also accompanied by three-year operating plan and a five year capital plan. The new forecasts are now required by the province's Municipal Affairs departments from all municipalities submitting annual budgets.
"These plans detail how the County foresees spending in the next several years," said Lac La Biche County spokesperson Alex Fuller following the budget's release last Tuesday.
The 2019 budget has a focus on creating a more welcoming community focus, says Lac La Biche County Mayor Omer Moghrabi, by putting funding into areas that will attract new development and draw more visitors.
"This plan reflects our vision for our community, with more enhancements to local infrastructure and projects that will move our county forward i terms of economic development, recreation, social wellness and tourism," the mayor said.
Included in the budgeted spending for 2019 is the completion of the outdoor sports fields at the Bold Center, the development of new boat launches for area lakes and the paving of the northern section of the Plamondon-Caslan connector road that joins Highway 55 to 663, opening up more access to the municipalities western side for visitors traveling from the south.
"We envision an innovative, resilient community where residents enjoy a high quality of life and visitors want to come back again and again," said the mayor.
This year's annual budget deliberations were completed after just six weeks of discussions, which is several months earlier than previous years, removing the need to have an interim budget and spending freezes put into place to start the new year.
The final piece of the financial plan for 2019 is the property tax calculations, which make up the lion's share of the revenue side of the budget. Property tax rates are expected to be completed in the spring of next year once assessment values have been tabulated for the municipality.
