Mountain View County (MVC) council is scheduled to vote on the overall budget and set the tax rate bylaw on April 10.
During last week’s council meeting, councillors reviewed the proposed budget and passed a motion to bring the items back for a vote.
Reeve Bruce Beattie says council appears in agreement for a one per cent tax increase across all categories. Such a rate would be in keeping with recent county rate increases and would allow the municipality to put funds into reserves.
“I think one per cent is a conservative estimate and one that our ratepayers can deal with over the long term and know a few years from now we are not going to get a major increase,” said Beattie.
“We still need to know what the provincial education requisition will be, and what impact that may have. We are looking at last year’s and assuming it will be in that area.”
The proposed budget calls for revenue of $34,591,866 up from $33,710,363 last year, and expenses of $38,016,688, up from $36,703,420 last year.
The excess of expenses over revenue would be made up through taxation.
“We know over the next couple of years we are going to see significant issues around bridges and infrastructure,” he said. “We know we have some preliminary discussions with both Carstairs and Sundre relative to tri-services buildings that may be coming down the line.
“We also know that our linear revenue is what I would say is not entirely predictable. We know that there are other municipalities in the province that are running into significant issues around that linear collection. The direction that the oil and gas industry takes in the next few years will determine that.”
One area where the county can already predict upcoming expenses is in the area of bridges, he said.
“Bridges are an expensive part of the infrastructure in the county,” he said. “We are going to have to budget for that.”
The complete proposed budget is available for viewing on the county’s website.
