A balanced budget, more police officers and less debt on the books are a few of the top items in Okotoks’ proposed 2016 budget.
However, it is by no means a finished document and does not include two big-ticket items – a Calgary water pipeline and twinning the Pason Centennial Arena.
According to the one town councillor, the Town struck a “conservative” balance with its spending proposals for next year.
“I think they tried to keep in mind that we are in an economic downturn,” said coun. Tanya Thorn, who is also chairperson of the town’s finance and budget committee. “We still are a community that has significant growth pressure in our future, so we have to accomplish a lot of things and maintain our current service levels.”
The committee heard proposals and funding requests from the Town’s department managers over a series of meetings last week as Town administration proposed a balanced budget with $52.8 million in revenues and expenses.
Parks, recreation and culture could take up the largest chunk of the budget with $10.5 million in proposed expenses and protective services (RCMP, fire and bylaw) come in second, budgeted to receive $8.5 million. The budget proposes to maintain existing service levels, while asking Town departments to look for efficiencies to reduce costs.
The proposed budget includes adding five full-time equivalent positions to the Town’s ranks and the total cost of salaries, wages and benefits for 2016 is budgeted at $20,792,743, up by almost a million dollars from last year. However, it’s also a nearly 20 per cent jump since 2014.
The budget also proposes boosting the RCMP ranks, adding three new members to bring the Okotoks detachment’s compliment up to 25.
The Town is also not planning on borrowing any money next year and the Town is paying off $3 million in debt, bringing the total amount it owes down to $20.5 million.
Thorn said this could change whether or not the provincial government approves Okotoks’ request for money to build a water pipeline from Calgary.
“It honestly depends on what happens with the Province and funding for the pipeline,” said Thorn.
The Town has estimated just over $29 million will be needed for the pipeline in over the next three years, including $9.7 million in 2016, but there is no funding source for the pipeline at this time.
The proposed budget also does not include funding to twin the Pason Centennial Arena, despite the Town’s long-range plans outling $5 million of the expected $12 million cost to come in 2016.
Rolland Russel, Okotoks finance director, said the Town plans bring the arena project to council for a decision later in 2016 once detailed designs are complete.
The proposed budget includes funding for almost $14.8 million in capital projects, with the largest price tag of $4.8 million for engineering and construction work necessary to prepare a 10-acre site near 32 Street and Holy Trinity academy to build a proposed K to Grade 9 school.
Other proposals include $860,000 to expand the spray park at the Okotoks Recreation Centre; $1.45 million for the first phase of the new Veterans Way pedestrian corridor; $200,000 for designs for a new Laurie Boyd pedestrian bridge; $150,000 for a feasibility study for the Old Creamery Building site and $390,000 for home organic waste carts.
Thorn said the committee and councillors will discuss the proposals and distill them down further to come up with a final budget to vote on next month.
While the proposed budget estimates tax revenues at $27.7 million, it does not include any recommendations for next year’s tax rates. Town council has already mandated that next year’s increase in the municipal share of property taxes not exceed the Municipal Price Index for the Calgary area. The Municipal Price index (MPI) measures the rate of inflation faced my municipalities. MPI has not yet been calculated, but according to Statistics Canada, the consumer price index (a measurement of the general rate of inflation) for Calgary in September was up 1.1 per cent over the same month in 2014 and nationally CPI was one per cent.
The non-residential tax rate is proposed to remain the same next year.
Thorn is concerned about what a low tax increase in 2016 will mean for 2017.
She said items in the Town’s long-range plans could result in a tax increase as much as eight per cent for 2017 and she said she wants the Town and council to discuss its long-term plans better.
“For me, I need to see some of those long-range numbers a little bit more,” she said.
The budget includes a number of proposed capital projects and studies.
Coun. Carrie Fischer said there’s still work to be done on the budget, but she feels proposals so far aren’t out of line considering the current state of the provincial economy.
“We’ve tried to be really cognizant of what’s going on in the province right now, in terms of the economy and residents might be feeling personally with their finances and job situation,” she said.
Fischer said the Town is already running a lean operation and this wouldn’t change with what’s proposed next year.
“We have to be aware too of workloads of staff and making sure that we’ve got the right amount of staff and we’ve got the right amount of efficiencies and things in place to make sure they’re streamlining their jobs and making the most of what they’ve got and I think this lines up,” she said.
