Red Deer County is holding the line on taxes, with no increases for the second year in a row while achieving a debt-free status for the first time in at least 12 years.
“Through this budget we are not going to owe any money whatsoever at Red Deer County anymore. That is the first time since I have been on and that has been 12 years,” said Mayor Jim Wood last week.
On Dec. 6 county council approved the 2017-19 operating and 2017-21 capital budgets, which were passed following public feedback the previous two weeks.
The operating budget for the three-year 2017-2019 period is projected to be between $45.9 million and $45.3 million, with capital spending from 2017-2021 decreasing to $27.9 million in 2017, and falling further over the next two years to $20.4 million.
While the county will continue to spend an average of $3.9 million over the next five years on bridge upgrading, there won't be any changes to any municipal levies.
“We are not seeing any tax increases whatsoever for our ratepayers,” said Wood, adding both staff and council members are setting personal standards on fiscal restraint. “Our staff has been really good. They are not taking a pay increase and council all said, ‘we're not going to take the pay increase that was scheduled for us.'”
Wood said that even in the current challenging economic climate, it's important for the county to continue to make necessary investments both on the operational and capital sides for the region's communities and infrastructure. He added the strategy is critically needed for anticipated future economic growth.
“We are taking a hard look at our projects but doing the ones necessary that we still need to do,” said Wood, singling out the “huge” investment that is going into Gasoline Alley, adding county approvals were made for the new bus station earlier this month.
“A lot of our projects we are doing this year coming up are bridge related. Those bridges were built a long time ago and we have to keep traffic flowing,” said the mayor. “Right now we are still seeing good value on the money we are spending on our roads, because we are getting really good pricing right now because of the economy.”
In the meantime, as the county moves forward in the current deep recession, Wood pointed out his soon debt-free rural municipality is in “very strong financial position” when compared to many others who are currently worried about high debt loads.
“We have reserves. We have money in the bank,” said Wood, conceding that while capital reserves have dropped over the past four years, it's due to the provincial government ending financial support for necessary bridge- related capital projects, which forced the county to cover the shortfalls from reserves.
“Somebody might say that is not sustainable and that may be true, but we are not in a normal time right now,” said Wood of the county's restraint strategy, and not raising taxes. “I think it is important we are able to see the growth that is happening in Red Deer County, that we are able to see people afford to pay their taxes, and that we are able to do what we can to get through these times, knowing we go through cycles in Alberta over, over and over again, and this cycle will end and become less a burden on our ratepayers.”
