BONNYVILLE – A two per cent tax increase was approved in the Town of Bonnyville’s 2023 interim operational and capital budgets during a regular meeting on Dec. 13.
Each one per cent tax increase is expected to generate about $81,077 of revenue for the Town.
“Our recommendation to council has been that we consider doing a two per cent increase each year to try to keep up with inflation,” said the Town’s CAO Bill Rogers, at the budget open house on Dec. 6.
“That's kind of a token increase this year because everybody knows inflation was about 10 or 12 per cent.”
To balance the Town’s roughly $23.3 million operational budget, a two per cent utility and garbage fee increase will also be introduced come Jan.1, as well as rate increases for the landfill and transfer station.
Council agreed to maintain financial requests sought by local organizations and non-profits to align with sponsorships received in previous years.
“It is an unfortunate reality, we could not fund all of the increases in asks from delegations – we had to make tough decisions,” Mayor Elisa Brosseau told Lakeland This Week. “Although we did not grant any extras that were asked of us, we did keep funding the same as prior years.”
More than $1.5 million was sought by 17 organizations that approached council seeking grants and sponsorships from the 2023 budget.
Funding requests from outside organizations increased by $125,000 compared to the year before, states Town of Bonnyville documents.
A transfer from the town’s General Operating Reserve of $320,835 was also included to balance the operating budget.
Similar to previous years, the Town will direct the $1.5 million of lntermunicipal Collaboration Framework (ICF) funds received from the MD of Bonnyville toward corporate services, protective services, transportation, solid waste and recreation.
Policing costs on the rise
The municipality's policing budget increased by $400,000 for 2023. This is the result of a cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) increase that was provided by the federal government to all RCMP members.
The Town pays $248,442 in wages for municipal employees that provide administrative support at the detachment, then for the municipality’s police contract, an additional $ 2.02 million is spent on the salaries of 13 members and capital equipment, Renee Stoyles, the Town's general manager of corporate services, told to Lakeland This Week.
The federal government shares 30 per cent of the overall policing cost for the town, which will see Ottawa chip in an estimated $800,000 for the upcoming year, confirmed Stoyles.
“Unfortunately, the cost for RCMP is dictated to us, we do not have any control on what we pay. However, we feel that we are getting excellent service from our RCMP,” said Brosseau.
Overall, the Town’s 2023 budget allots 33 per cent of its funding to protective services compared to 30 per cent earmarked for public works – the town’s two largest expenses.
A notable increase was included in the public works 2023 budget to repair and carry out maintenance to aid in reducing theft from the Town's shop yard. Approximately $59,400 will be spent on theft prevention measures.
“RCMP do rounds of properties at night, however, if they are busy on urgent matters the Town has to protect its property just the same. We have taken some matters in our own hands to ensure our property is safe from theft and that comes at a cost,” said the mayor.
“[The] budget for public works is according to their needs and what is required to attain high service levels for our residents. The difference of allocation to the two is not as important to council as is the service they both provide to our residents.”
Prior to the finalization of the Tax Rate Bylaw in May of 2023, adjustments will likely be required to reflect the 2022 year-end, changes between now and April 30, 2023, plus the provincial requisitions for schools and seniors housing.
New pool planned for 2025
The Town’s balanced $16.4 million interim capital budget lays the groundwork for a new pool to begin construction in 2025 through significant funding allocation earmarked for an aquatic centre.
“We're still in the early days, but part of the early days is we have to start budgeting capital dollars to be able to cover our share of costs,” said Rogers, during the budget open house.
A municipal recreation and wellness fund of about $2.8 million in 2023 has been updated to reflect the aquatics centre as the intended recreation project. An additional $1 million will be transferred to a reserve for the new pool in 2023.
The Town administration will also be seeking $15 million from a federal grant, the Green and Inclusive Community Buildings (GICB) grant, to help cover the construction of the aquatics centre.
Overall, the municipality is anticipating receiving roughly $1.11 million in provincial grants for a variety of capital projects such as trail lighting and playground upgrades. Revenue from grant applications worth about $730,260 is also anticipated.
Any capital projects not completed in 2022 may be carried over to 2023 or deferred to a future year. Costs for unfinished projects will be known at 2022 years end and added to the 2023 final budget.
The Town is also expecting to receive about $6.17 million funding from ID 349 at the end of 2023, based on what was received through assessments in 2021.
