Work on the draft 2019 Mountain View County operating budget is continuing this week after councillors reviewed the latest version of the document at the recent regularly scheduled council meeting.
Reeve Bruce Beattie says based on the current proposed operating budget, he foresees a municipal tax rate hike of about one or one-and-a-half percent.
“We have to have our budget finalized by May for the province,” said Beattie. “I think we are getting very close. I don’t anticipate anything significantly different in the mill rate than what we’ve done over the last number of years, which is in that one and one-and-a-half per cent range.
“We don’t know what is going to happen in the provincial election. We won’t know what is going to happen with MSI (municipal sustainability initiative) funding, which is a significant portion of some of our capital.
“And of course we don’t know how the oil and gas industry will progress over the next year or two (impacting linear taxation). Up to 65 per cent of our revenue comes from either linear or machinery and equipment tax.”
The county has already passed the 2019 capital budget.
The draft operating budget came before council on March 13 and is scheduled to be brought back again on March 27, when options for the municipal portion of the mill rates could be provided.
On the revenue side, the budget calls for total revenue of $34,587,504, up $877,141 from 2018’s total of $33,710,363.
Specifically on the revenue side, the budget includes calls for sale of goods of $214,000 (up from $150,700), sale of services $271,500 (up from $244,000), fees and levies $750,000 (down from $756,600), fines and penalties $431,500 (down from $436,500), return on investments $1,550,000 (up from $1,427,500), rentals $326,000 (up from $324,250).
On the expense side, the budget calls for total expenses of $37,986,688, up $1,283,268 from 2018’s total of $36,703,420.
Specifically on the expenses side, the budget calls for council expenses of $730,940 (up from $652,565 in 2018), CAO services of $824,709 (down from $841,217), corporate services finance and general office of $2,246,365 (down from $2,291,051), planning and development services $1,308,718 (up from $1,215,524), legislative services $1,346,003 (down from $1,522,157), operational services roads, facilities and shops $21,467,165 (up from $21,094,196).
“We continue to look at diversification, just as the province has,” said Beattie. “We are trying to diversify and preserve agricultural land at the same time. There are some real challenges this year.”
He anticipates the operating budget being passed sometime in April.
