Sundre council was expected to consider a proposed residential and commercial tax increase of 3.89 per cent in 2015 and, new this year, a 1.97 per cent increase in 2016, during yesterday's council meeting.
This is the first year town officials are conducting a two-year budget cycle. Wanda Watson-Neufeld, the town's director of corporate services, said with the two-year cycle people will be able to depend on future tax rates, and organizations requesting funding will be able to plan ahead.
“That (projected tax rates) is assuming that our assessment's going up…if they don't go up the rates will have to be adjusted or we'll have to cut something out of the budget,” said Watson-Neufeld.
There will be a spring budget adjustment once assessment figures are available in April, but town officials have set the tax increase assuming that assessments will increase by 2.2 per cent in 2015 and 2.01 per cent in 2016.
Budget deliberations were held last month and councillors made decisions on whether to maintain, increase or decrease service levels for the year of 2015 as well as 2016.
The proposed operating budget for 2015 is $9,967,171 and taxpayers would be on the hook for $2,981,118 of that.
This includes spending $150,000 for a broadband business plan that would kick off a project to install fibre optic cable to every household and business in Sundre. Officials plan to partner with O-NET to build and maintain the project.
O-NET is a company owned by the Olds Institute for Community and Regional Development that provides television, high-speed Internet and phone services for the community of Olds.
Also included in the proposed budget is spending $34,625 in additional salary and benefits in 2015 to increase the corporate services administrative assistant part-time position to full-time.
As well, council will consider spending $59,800 to review and update the town's Land Use Bylaw.
The proposed operating budget for 2016 is $10,008,409 and taxpayers would be on the hook for $3,098,156 of that.
This includes spending $20,000 towards the broadband network project and $50,000 for corridor enhancing downtown revitalizing projects.
The next budget cycle will be in 2016, which will be for 2017 and 2018, so the new council elected in 2017 won't be rushed into budget, she said.
“They don't know a lot about the town unless they've been on council. So then they have a huge learning curve and half the time they don't know what they're passing,” she said.
“So this way it will be the former council that passes the budget so the new ones have a chance to get into it.”
During a budget open house held at the town office on Nov. 26, posters were on display to break down the budget for residents.
Town administration accounts for 23.8 per cent of the budget, community services for 29.5 per cent, operational services is at 16.13 per cent, economic development at 19.79 per cent and protective services at 10.78 per cent.
“Formerly they'd (economic development) only been about three per cent of the budget, so that's a huge change,” she said.
“Council has really invested in this group to try to bring in new tax base. Right now I have to spread that amount, that we're increasing the taxes, over the residents that we have and the commercial businesses we have. But if we get more commercial business or we get more residents then there's more people to spread that out, so then their tax rate goes down. That's their goal.”
With the proposed tax increase, the average resident will see an increase of $71.50 on their annual tax bill in 2015, and an increase of $37.75 in 2016.
Watson-Neufeld compared Sundre's taxes to surrounding communities including Three Hills, Rimbey, Redwater, Hanna, Didsbury, Carstairs and Athabasca. Of those communities, Sundre's residential taxes are below average by $232, she said.
“Sundre is way below the average. Even increasing our rates we'll still be below the average,” she said.
She added that the current average residential and commercial assessment in Sundre is $250,000.
“Because most of our businesses are small. But it would be great if our businesses had higher assessment because they would pay more taxes and we could lower residential. That's our goal.”
The average commercial business will be affected by $105.75 in 2015 and $55.50 in 2016. And compared to the above communities, Sundre is also below average by $65 for non-residential taxes.
Officials are also proposing a Cost of Living Allowance (COLA) increase of 2.6 per cent in 2015 as well as 2016.
The capital budget proposed for 2015 is lower than usual at $2,195,000 and $1,162,000 proposed for 2016. The capital budget is usually between four and seven million, she said.
“We're using this as a planning year to determine what needs to be done and what residents really want,” she said.
“So what residents have asked for is improvements in some of their systems but we also need to prepare for future disaster. We need to prepare for a flood. We got lucky this year – we were very close again to flooding. So we're putting money into emergency communications.”
The capital budget does not impact taxes, but will be paid completely through grants or reserves, she noted.
The purpose of the open house was to communicate with residents and gain feedback for councillors before debating the budget during yesterday's council meeting.
It was held from 8:30-11 a.m. as well as 5-7 p.m. because officials were hoping to work around people's schedules so there would be more of a turnout.
Last year items up for discussion during budget deliberations were available for the public to review at the town office for a few days. The year prior to that officials held an open house and only one person attended.
