By Angela Brown

Small tax increase for Town of Battleford

Apr 5, 2017 | 11:49 AM

Town of Battleford ratepayers can expect to see about a three per cent on average tax increase, but otherwise “no major surprises” in this year’s budget according to Chief Administrative Officer John Enns-Wind.

Town council will release and pass the new budget at the April 17 meeting.

“We’re making sure the budget is fit properly with the reduction in the budget from the province,” Mayor Ames Leslie said adding the province’s cut of grants in lieu came “as a surprise.”

“We had to look back at the budget to try to find some money,” he said. “Overall, with the budget – I’m happy with it. There were definitely some tough decisions.”

Enns-Wind said the tax increase essentially reflects the rate of inflation.  

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Council and administration have spent the past five months deliberating on the details of the budget, looking for efficiencies without sacrificing services.

“We’ve been working on it, revising it according to what council wants,” Enns-Wind said. “I think we are at the stage now where they will accept it.”

The numbers for the municipal budget were also impacted by the recently released provincial budget. 

Enns-Wind confirmed the town lost $84,000 in funding from the province because its grants in lieu were discontinued, so it has some challenges.

To make up for the loss, the town has decided not to pursue plans to hire for a new position of economic development officer.

The CAO said as an example, $84,000 is equal to two-thirds of the cost of operating the arena, so it is a significant sum. The amount is also more than the cost of a new bucket-truck the town recently purchased.

“It does make a difference,” Enns-Wind said. “Our hope is that it won’t be an ongoing discount we have to face – that the province will see a different perspective, and give that back. We will have to wait and see. That is a political discussion.”

On a positive note, Enns-Wind said the town’s revenue-sharing value has acutally increased this year because its population increased by nine per cent in the past five years, based on the 2016 census results.

“We are very fortunate there,” he said. “However, as a reminder, overall, the revenue that was received from other levels of government was about an 8.8 per cent decrease for us from last year.

“When you take together all our revenue from 2016 and 2017 – just our share from the government is down 8.8 per cent. So, not only did we have to try to hold the costs or the impact of inflation on our budget, we also had to deal with this 8.8 per cent cut in revenue that was forced on us.”

As far as spending for the year ahead goes, the town wants to continue to improve its roadways and invest in capital projects.

“We have a number of roads that aren’t in the best condition so we need to look after those,” Enns-Wind said. “We also want to ensure the roads that are in good condition stay that way.”

The town also plans to complete some maintenance work on its sewage treatment lagoon system this summer. 

Other work includes the ongoing project of replacing the old water meters in the town with fewer, more efficient, meters.

angela.brown@jpbg.ca