Sundre's council could not come to a consensus during its regular meeting last week on how to address taxes for the year.
Several elected officials ó namely councillors Chris Vardas and Cheri Funke ó were in favour of approving a three per cent increase to the residential and commercial mill rates with a modest reduction to the commercial vacant mill rate.
But others ó primarily Mayor Terry Leslie and Coun. Myron Thompson ó wanted to hold the line and even drop the tax increase to zero or perhaps one per cent if possible, largely making up the ensuing shortfall in revenue through reserve transfers.
Among the mayor's reasons were that the council has significantly increased the municipality's reserves to about $5.6 million today from roughly $3 million in 2013. Additionally, a surplus resulting from staff turnover last year left some wiggle room to give residents and businesses a break this year, he said.
Thompson said the municipality needs to make sacrifices, just like many residents who have been forced to make adjustments in their budgets by eliminating expenses such as eating out and going to the movies.
However, Vic Pirie, director of finance and administration, reminded council that a budgeted increase of one per cent in local assessments not only failed to materialize in 2016, but that it actually decreased by about one per cent, which has a negative impact on revenue generated through taxation. Additionally, funds placed into reserves over the past few years are supposed to be dedicated for crucial infrastructure projects, not as rainy day funds to offset taxes.
"The money that you put aside were for very specific purposes going forward that is going to assist council in ensuring there are no unexpected costs that our taxpayers in the future are going to bear," Pirie said.
He also cautioned that forgoing a tax increase this year could mean an even larger jump for ratepayers next year, although Leslie said that was speculative.
While council no doubt should be commended for nearly doubling the town's reserves over the past few years, the simple fact remains the municipality faces an intimidating and quite frankly daunting infrastructure deficit that eclipses the respectable amount council has set aside for the future.
The impending Centre Street North reconstruction, which includes underground services, will cost about $2.2 million. The sewage lagoon upgrades that will increase capacity and allow for growth will run up more than $10 million ó perhaps even as much as about $15 million. Installing broadband Internet, if ratepayers support investing in that infrastructure, about $2.6 million. A new recreational facility? Who knows! But safe to say such a project would also run well into the many millions upon millions of dollars.
Let's be honest.
These projects are absolutely crucial necessities that simply cannot be compared with luxuries such as dining out or going to the movies. Having become Sundre taxpayers last year, my other half and I are not excited about paying more than we already are. We are among those who find themselves unable to frequent local restaurants as often as we might like, much to our chagrin considering the quality and variety of establishments available in Sundre. But given the option between functioning infrastructure and some nights out on the town, I'll always choose the former.
Because more important to us than going out for supper or a movie is knowing that the municipality is taking steps to increase reserves to reduce dependency on debenture borrowing for future projects. Somehow, still being able to flush the toilet and have decent roads in a few years seem more important than going out for a steak.
Council has done exceedingly well these past few years by increasing reserves and preparing for the future ó now is not the time to throw any wrenches into those gears.
