Projects moving ahead for town despite tight budget

Individual property owners won’t know directly whether they might see an increase in their taxes, and the value of that increase, which could also be less than three per cent, until after the report on the 2017 property value assessments is ready.

This year’s budget also represents a three per cent increase in the town’s revenue.

“That’s pretty good considering that initially we lost about 11 per cent of revenue from other levels of government,” said CAO John Enns-Wind when he spoke to council. “Because of the town’s [population] growth in the census, that actually ended up just being a loss of under nine per cent. So it turned out okay with the census.

“But it’s quite a hit. We are not the only municipality that is feeling it,” added the CAO. “But it’s a reasonable three per cent, and we have addressed some infrastructure issues we really need to manage.”

The CAO had confirmed recently the town lost $84,000 in funding from the province because its grants in lieu were discontinued, so it had some challenges.

The town is waiting for the final numbers from the 2017 property assessment review, which is expected to be coming shortly.

“How that affects individual homeowners is difficult to say right now,” said Enns-Wind. “The assessor hasn’t provided us with the final numbers yet.”

Councillor Shelley Boutin-Gervais said during the meeting the town’s increases to its taxes are a result of the impact of the recently released provincial budget. They do not relate to education taxes, which the town is not responsible for determining.

Mayor Ames Leslie said on the municipal tax increase: “Even though it is three per cent, and no one ever wants their taxes to go up, I definitely want to commend this group for sitting around the table and helping find some savings, so we can keep it at three per cent.

“We definitely don’t want to compare ourselves to anybody else, but there are some large increases other communities are facing. We’ll see where we can make some savings throughout the year, and, hopefully, save up some of that three per cent.”

Work ahead

Councillor Yarde said some of the larger projects going forward include upgrading infrastructure in the West Park area of the town – the older part of Battleford where the current infrastructure is aging.

Coun. Gordon Yarde said this work and road repairs throughout the town will take priority in the year ahead.

Completing the West Park upgrades is budgeted at $3 million, which includes upgrading the water and waste water system at a cost of $2.4 million. The West Park work is the biggest capital project expense in the budget.

“We had to make sure we got that in place,” said Yarde. “Pipes, sewage and water and everything had to be upgraded.”

A total of $5.3 million is estimated for all capital projects for the town starting in 2017. Sidewalk repair and replacement work estimated at $100,000 per year, to be completed into 2026, while other projects have a 2017 to 2018 end date.

The town hall building also needs extensive upgrades, with a completion date still to be determined for the entire project, which is estimated at from $6 million to $11 million.

The town has a number of projects planned for facility and building upgrades throughout the town in the next several years ahead.

Some of the other projects planned for 2017 include repair work for the North Saskatchewan River bridge, estimated at $52,500. The North Saskatchewan River bridges and the bridge at the old Highway #4 bridge are the town’s responsibilities.

In the budget report, the town indicates the North Saskatchewan River bridges are near the end of their design life and need work.

Looking at the long term, the town’s budget indicates $2.6 million is estimated for road and bridge work in total from 2017 to 2031.

Road and bridge projects in total add up to $2.6 million estimated for the next five years.

angela.brown@jpbg.ca

Twitter: @battlefordsNOW

by Angela Brown

Projects moving ahead for town despite tight budget

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