Mountain View County councillors have started the review of the proposed 2013 budgets, looking over operational budgets during last week's policies and priorities meeting.“We are in the early steps of the process,” Reeve Bruce Beattie told the Gazette. “We want to do all of our programs in the most efficient and effective way possible and we are working from that basis. It will be a question of determining what projects we want to go ahead with and what priority they have.“Certainly the goal is to keep any tax change, if there were an increase, to a minimum, but if expenses go up across the board you have to find ways to deal with that. Our goal is a realistic budget that takes into account all those things.”The budget doesn't need to be passed until the spring, he said.“Our goal is to have the operational side and the capital side completed by the end of the year so if we have any tenders, for roads for example, we can get those out in the new year,” he said.Draft budgets were presented for CAO services, council, corporate services, planning and development services, and legislative, community and agricultural services.The corporate services budget calls for a 2.4 per cent increase in 2013, rising from $1,804,970 last year to $1,848,400.The budget includes $371,000 for assessment services personnel, $364,000 for business services personnel, $749,800 for finance/general office personnel.The budget also calls for $60,000 to be spent on aerial photography. An administration note accompanying that request states: “Our current aerial photography will be five years old, and is intended to be updated at least that often. Staff are looking at alternatives to the county owning the photography, and the intent is that the costs will remain within the indicated costs for this project whichever direction is taken.”The planning and development services budget calls for 2013 net funding of $1,264,650, an increase of 2.8 per cent over 2012.The budget includes $861,400 for planning personnel, $124,400 for permitting personnel, and $346,300 for development personnel.The budget includes $50,000 for review of Highway 2 and Highway 27 area structure plans (ASP).“With the adoption of a new municipal development plan existing area structure plans will need to be reviewed to ensure consistency. The 2 and 27 ASP as well as the IDP (intermunicipal development plan) and other related documents will be one of three plans to be reviewed. The result of the review will be the adoption of an ASP that is consistent with county planning policy,” administration said in a note to council.The budget also includes money to review the Wessex ASP ($7,000), the South McDougal Flats ASP ($7,000), the Water Valley Winchell Lake ASP ($7,000), and the Sundre ASP ($7,000).The budget also includes $30,000 for the development of a long-term land use preservation strategy.“The project will involve the retention of a specialized consulting team to assist in the governance development including the formation of a steering committee, regional engagement with potential partnering municipalities and strategic plan development for implementation of tools,” said administration.The budget also includes $10,000 for a review of the county's land use bylaw with the “objective of simplification.”The budget calls for the development of a municipal sand and gravel strategy, at a cost of $7,000.“Sand and gravel is becoming an increasingly controversial issue,” administration said in a note to council. “It is important that we work with industry and develop a strategy that will see these resources appropriately developed.“The project anticipated that we will establish a committee consisting in part of industry representatives to explore this issue. Work will be done by department staff (with) the budget for advertising, meeting halls, etc.”The legislative services budget calls for net funding of $819,300, down 0.9 per cent from last year's budget of $826,615.The agriculture services budget calls for net funding of $919,235, up from $749,610 in 2012.The council budget calls for a 0.4 per cent increase or $2,135 in salary and benefit compensation, representing a one per cent cost of living increase. The total council budget calls for net funding of $547,700 in 2013, up from $545,600.The CAO budget calls for an increase of 10.7 per cent, increasing from $594,450 to $657,900. The budget includes recurring expenses of $607,900, up from $63,450 from 2012.The budget also includes $36,000 for senior management team development. A note from administrations says that that development will include training “so that the current senior management team members are training appropriately in succession management, leadership and future advancement within the municipality.”
