Town administration has allocated $17,000 to do a municipal census in 2013 because it believes the federal census done in 2011 may not accurately reflect the population in Olds. The federal census pegged the town's population at 8,235.
That is just one of the projects that was discussed on Nov. 26 at council's regular meeting, in which further discussion of the 2013 budget took place.
The town hopes to be contracting the City of Airdrie to help with the census work since Olds's southern neighbour has conducted a similar census in the past, said Norm McInnis, the town's chief administrative officer.
“There's always the suspicion that the federal census, the numbers are not right, because the followup and the rigour that goes into it is not there,” he said, noting he has witnessed the same phenomenon in other communities where he has worked.
While McInnis said because there are grant implications for the town – the fact that per capita Municipal Sustainability Initiative funding will be discontinued in 2017 and federal stimulus funding that is due to expire in 2014 – now is a good time to do a census. McInnis said the federal stimulus funding may be renewed at a future date, although that has yet to be announced.
“The big driver is not the grant money. The big driver is just getting a handle on our growth here in town. We're growing, we know that and our census numbers just aren't reflecting that,” he said.
The town has seen $54-million worth of development permits in the first 10 months of this year, compared to $25 million for the entire year in 2011.
Utility rates that users will be paying in 2013 will be increasing substantially. The town will be passing on a $1.30 per cubic metre increase in wastewater rates to consumers so that the South Red Deer Regional Wastewater Commission can start taking some of the town's wastewater, leading to a $2.78 per cubic metre charge to customers in April 2013. The water rate will also be increasing five cents to $2.56 per cubic metre as per the town's increased cost of water received from the Mountain View Water Services Commission. A $0.43 increase to $19.30 for handling solid waste will also be passed on.
One of the other items that councillors had questions about was a four per cent increase in the Olds Municipal Library budget over last year, amounting to a $70,000 increase. The library has asked to fund a technician – at a cost of $20,000 – out of the general requisition rather than out of reserves, as it has done in the past. The position was created in 2010 as a three-year position, but the library is asking to fund it as a permanent position beyond 2013.
Coun. Mary Jane Harper felt the requested position wasn't something the town should be funding directly.
“It was made clear by our CAO that the position for this technician would be only three years,” she said, adding that she felt the library needs to come up with that funding on its own if it wants to continue with that position.
The town also plans to spend $35,000 in 2013 through MSI funding on implementing part of the recommendations from the Genuine Wealth Assessment report, with administration assessing whether the town should continue implementing the project in the future with a further $70,000.
