Skip to content

Town passes balanced interim budget

The Town of St. Paul approved its interim budget during a special meeting held on Dec. 17 at 5:30 p.m. in council chambers. The interim budget is a requirement and allows the town to continue to operate until a final budget is approved in 2020.
2019- Logo Colour with Tagline

The Town of St. Paul approved its interim budget during a special meeting held on Dec. 17 at 5:30 p.m. in council chambers.

The interim budget is a requirement and allows the town to continue to operate until a final budget is approved in 2020.

This year’s interim budget is a balanced budget, with $14.4 million expected in revenue, and the same number planned for expenditures. The interim budget is based on unaudited numbers, explained CAO Kim Heyman, after the meeting. She expects there will be changes made when the actual budget is approved in 2020, and audited numbers are available from 2019.

Along with working on its current budget, the town is also working on its three-year operating budget, which is a new requirement for all municipalities. The town must also have a five-year capital budget in place.

Changes can be made as needed to the three-year and five-year budgets.

When asked if there’s anything the town is anticipating at this point to have an impact on the budget, Heyman says, “We’re very luck, we don’t have a lot of linear (taxation),” which has affected many other municipalities.

The town’s revenue from linear taxation is less than $1,000, so the decrease in revenue being noted by many rural municipalities is not something the town has to deal with. Revenue is pretty steady for the town, said Heyman.

But, the municipality also acknowledges that many people are without work in the area, due to the current economic situation, and the town is aiming to put together a “conservative budget,” while “still maintaining services that people expect,” according to the CAO.

The special meeting on Tuesday was attended by all of council, with Mayor Maureen Miller taking part over the phone. On Dec. 12, council had a Committee of the Whole meeting scheduled, and had planned to pass its interim budget at that time, but the meeting did not meet quorum with only three councillors able to attend, which resulted in the Dec. 17 special meeting being called.

Municipalities regularly pass interim budgets ahead of Dec. 31.


Janice Huser

About the Author: Janice Huser

Janice Huser has been with the St. Paul Journal since 2006. She is a graduate of the SAIT print media journalism program, is originally from St. Paul and has a passion for photography.
Read more



Comments

push icon
Be the first to read breaking stories. Enable push notifications on your device. Disable anytime.
No thanks