Sundre council has reduced the proposed 2014 operating budget by tens of thousands of dollars, in an effort to bring the proposed tax rate down by almost half.
A total of $70,350 was removed from the draft budget during recent deliberation at the Dec. 2 council meeting including reducing amounts being put into reserves.
However, $34,243 was added to the budget for the new CAO contract, which is currently being negotiated, according to a report to council submitted by Wanda Watson-Neufeld, the town's director of corporate services.
During the Nov. 23 deliberations, a total of $52,482 was chopped from the budget.
Therefore, net change to the budget resulted in a reduction of $88,589, which is a 3.1 per cent reduction, said Watson-Neufeld.
Council was expected to debate a tentative tax increase of 3.43 per cent for residential and 2.85 per cent for commercial properties for the 2014 tax year, during yesterday's council meeting.
Council was also expected to complete budget deliberations during yesterday's meeting.
Budget deliberations were originally planned for completion on Dec. 2, but the general consensus was that councillors were not happy with the percentage of increased taxes that property owners would be paying.
The proposed operating budget, after budget deliberations on Nov. 23, suggested a tax increase of 5.64 per cent residential and 4.33 per cent commercial.
However, during the Dec. 2 council meeting, the tax increase had been raised to 6.35 per cent residential, because the CAO contract had been added into the budget.
The current proposed operating budget is $9,133,889, of which taxpayers are on the hook for $2,807,988. This is a $170,105 increase from 2013.
“There's a lot of stuff in there that I think needs to be cut still,” said Coun. Tony Jordan during the meeting.
Coun. Myron Thompson said he wanted to see a three per cent reduction in the tax increase. He made a motion for administration to bring recommendations back to council for yesterday's meeting on what to cut in order to bring taxes down.
Also during the Dec. 2 meeting, Mayor Terry Leslie made a motion to reduce the funds going into reserves by $46,900, which would bring the total funds going into reserves down to $208,448. However, the motion was defeated. All councillors were opposed except for Jodi Orr.
The 2014 operating budget includes an 18.21 per cent increase from 2013 in protective services and a 16.71 per cent increase in operational services.
Also included is $8,760 going towards street improvements, according to the minutes of the Nov. 23 budget deliberations meeting.
Taxpayer money will also be spent on benches, picnic tables and garbage and recycling receptacles for $7,600. These will be placed along the Highway 27 corridor.
Centre Street intersection enhancements were approved for $23,075, with $13,700 coming from taxpayers and $9,375 from the town's sponsorship programs.
As well, $10,000 is planned to be put in reserves for the purpose of downtown storefront improvements.
A business retention, expansion and attraction program is budgeted for $46,000, which is to be covered by grant money and Mountain View County.
Council chose to increase volunteer firefighter honorariums, budgeting a total of $60,742. Half of the funds are to be covered by taxpayers and the other half by the county.
A $65,428 salary has been approved for the hiring of a second operational services operator.
Mayor Terry Leslie plans to write a weekly article to be distributed through the town's utility bills, the town's website and the Sundre Round Up. Council added a line for $1,000 to cover the cost of the article.
There was a salary decrease to all staff members in the community services departments and some in the operational services departments, saving the town $66,158. This is related to having one less staff member in community services.
As well, $79,450 has been budgeted for planning services such as updating the land use bylaw and the fee schedule.
Council decided to establish a cost of living allowance of one per cent, effective Jan. 1, 2014, for all town staff and council.
It was also decided that the use of town surplus to offset taxes would decrease by $10,000 each year until it is no longer required.
Final approval of the budget is planned for the council meeting on Dec. 16. There will be a spring budget adjustment after town officials can access assessment figures in April.
Items up for discussion during budget deliberations were available for the public to review at the town office during the week of November 12 to 15.
There are no further public consultations planned at this time.
The operating budget that was approved for 2013 was $7,792,467, which included a residential tax increase of 4.12 per cent. Taxpayers were on the hook for $2,637,883 of that money.
