BOWDEN - Town council has unanimously approved its 2018 operating budget, which currently calls for a two per cent tax increase, according to Jacqui Molyneux, Bowden’s chief financial officer.
However, that doesn’t necessarily mean the mill rate will go up by two per cent. The town has to wait for Red Deer County council to pass its budget before those rates will be determined.
Molyneux says the county usually determines its mill rates by mid-May and thus, the Town of Bowden usually gets its tax bills in the mail to residents by the third week of May.
The budget was passed unanimously during the town’s April 23 council meeting.
Total revenues and expenditures this year are projected to balance out at $3,060,008.77. Last year, revenues and expenditures were expected to balance out at $2,537,068.19. However, in the end, actual 2017 revenues totalled $2,567,194 and actual expenditures came in at $2,423,990.07, resulting in a surplus of $143,203.93.
Council also approved the town’s capital budget, which projects total revenues of $326,660, coming via various government grants, and expenditures totalling $215,000.
The budget includes $75,000 for repairs to the back alley behind Reddi Mart, which has been the source of complaints about ruts and flooding.
