Mountain View County council has passed its 2015 capital budget, which calls for total spending of $18,775,400, down by about $1.4 million from 2014.
The approval came during the regularly scheduled council meeting on Dec. 10.
The 2015 budget calls for capital spending of $16,112,700 and related operational spending of $2,662,700. The 2014 capital budget total was $20.2 million.
Capital spending next year will include $2,445,000 for the re-chipping program, $1,800,000 for re-gravelling program, $600,000 for road base stabilization projects, $400,000 for asphalt long patching, $250,000 for Acme Road land deals, $200,000 for Acme Road base and chip seal from Highway 22 to Rge. Rd. 30 and related bridge work, $175,000 for Eagle Hill community paving, and $120,000 for subdivision deferred chip program.
Other capital projects include $110,000 for highway signage, $80,000 for a solar power pilot program, $70,000 for Acme Road engineering, $68,700 for computer equipment and $60,000 for Coal Camp Road engineering.
New vehicle fleet purchases include $135,000 for three half-ton trucks, $150,000 for three three-quarter ton trucks, $60,000 for a one-ton truck, and $70,000 for a two-ton truck.
Councillors decided not to go forward with a proposed $11 million upgrade of Rge. Rd. 20 between Didsbury and Olds.
“The replacement of some of our trucks is one of our major expenses,” said Beattie. “We've got some road projects that are ongoing and some bridges to deal with, but overall no major projects.”
Asked what impact the capital budget will have on taxes, Beattie says more work will still need to be done before the 2015 rates can be set.
“We are still debating that and we haven't discussed a tax rate yet,” he said. “Our final tax rate will be done once we've done our operating budget in the spring. I wouldn't anticipate any major increases, but as we look across the province and we have $40 oil (per barrel), we don't know what impact that might have.
“Last year the well drilling tax generated almost $1 million in terms of revenue, so we will see what impact that lower oil price may have. Like the province and the federal side, the price of oil does have an impact on us as well.”
Greg Wiens, director of corporate services, says the county already anticipates fluctuations in oil prices in its budgeting process.
“We purposely haven't incorporated that (drilling tax) revenue into our recurring revenue,” said Wiens. “We put that money into reserves so that if that money were to not be there, it would impact how much we put into reserve but it wouldn't necessarily impact anything we are funding from recurring programs.
“We've purposely done it that way because we know it can fluctuate quite significantly from year to year. It means we don't have as much money in our reserves to work with, but it certainly doesn't prevent use from providing recurring programs.”
The next operational budget meeting is scheduled for Jan. 19.
"We've got some road projects that are ongoing and some bridges to deal with, but overall no major projects."Bruce BeattieMVC reeve
