Any residents who plan for and include in their budgets an annual tax increase won't be surprised by council's decision to approve Sundre's operating budget, which calls for a modest tax hike.
Any residents who plan for and include in their budgets an annual tax increase won't be surprised by council's decision to approve Sundre's operating budget, which calls for a modest tax hike.
Council carried the municipality's operational budget for 2017-18 during its Dec. 5 meeting, with Mayor Terry Leslie and Coun. Thompson opposed. Click here for that story.
"It wasn't necessary — I think we could have gotten by without doing it," said Coun. Myron Thompson.
With the current economic climate and the fact there are people who are living paycheque to paycheque while others are living on credit or credit lines, council should have done its part to help taxpayers by not increasing the mill rate, Thompson told the Round Up.
Additionally, the impending carbon tax is expected to increase the cost of food, and with the deep freeze of winter settling in, people will also be faced with increasing heating bills, he said, adding he felt that holding the line on taxes "would help ease the load to some extent."
The councillor undeniably makes a convincing argument in favour of freezing taxes. But residents would no doubt prefer a modest increase in 2017-18 rather than having to endure a more substantial hike that's harder to swallow all at once in 2019.
And it's not as though administrative staff have neglected to take measures to reduce costs wherever possible — quite the opposite. Cost saving measures in the budget included freezing staff salaries for 2017, said Vic Pirie, director of finance and administration.
"Our staff has recognized the economic situation. Even though they're like everyone else being hit by increased costs, they're not receiving any cost of living increase for 2017," he told the Round Up.
Further striving to keep costs as low as possible for residents, administrative staff proposed holding the line on consumption rates for gas, water and wastewater. Although the monthly flat rates are increasing — click here for that story — residents who make the effort to reduce their consumption will by extension keep more money in their pockets. Garbage pickup rates also remain unchanged.
So although the 2017 mill rate is going up roughly three per cent over 2016 for a house assessed at $350,000, the municipality's decision to hold the line on consumption rates as well as garbage pickup means the overall increase is more accurately reflected as about a two per cent hike, said Pirie.
While people certainly won't be excited to hear about the tax increase, perhaps they'll find some solace in the knowledge that the municipality's staff have shared in the sacrifice and also made the effort to minimize the burden on taxpayers while maintaining services.
— Simon Ducatel, editor
