BONNYVILLE – A lot of tough decisions will have to be made when it comes to the Town of Bonnyville’s 2021 budgets.
Council took its first look at the drafts of the 2021 operating and capital budgets during an Oct. 27 meeting. There were a number of solutions offered by town administration to balance the budgets, who requested feedback from council.
Operational budget
The 2020 operating budget is sitting with an overall deficit of $1.6-million, with revenues projected at $20.56-million and expenses around $22.21-million.
The town is forecasting a $1.15-million reduction in revenues in 2021.
Among the areas expected to see a significant decrease are farmland taxes, which are anticipated to come in roughly $3,400 less than last year for a total of $11,310 due to decreases in assessments. One of the main reasons for the deficit was the town not using roughly $381,200 from the MD of Bonnyville inter-municipal collaboration (IMC) program for the Bonnyville Swimming Pool, Canada Day, Alberta Counsel Lobby, and the Curling Centre. The town’s Intermunicipal Collaboration Framework (ICF) will see a $20,000 decrease from 2020 due to an agreement not being signed by the time of the meeting.
While fewer dollars are coming in, overall, the town’s operational expenses are also estimated to increase by close to $500,300.
Conference costs for council could jump by $12,000 to $15,000, which includes the costs for councillors to attend the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) event in 2021.
The receptions and public relations amount is also budgeted to increase by $5,000 to $98,500, as administration included all of the delegation requests received for 2021.
The town has included $20,000 for the upcoming municipal election set for the fall of 2021.
The cost of Cold Lake water due to the regional waterline anticipated to be completed for 2021 will see a jump of $650,000 to $1-million for 2021.
Maintenance on parks and Jessie Lake trail repairs could see the parks maintenance budget increase by $20,000 to $35,000 for next year.
Some of the suggestions offered by administration to reduce the shortfall were removing $30,000 for lagoon dredging, deferring the $20,000 repairs to the northside of the Jessie Lake Trail, and not attending the FCM conference, which would cost around $12,000. It was also proposed to reduce the amount given to local groups, including the Bonnyville and District Chamber of Commerce, Bonnyville Gear Grabbers, and Extreme Mudfest, among others.
Council also discussed the possibility of a municipal tax increase to assist with balancing the budget.
“At some point, something’s going to have to be done,” said Coun. Ray Prevost. “The assessments keep dropping, we’re not cutting services, and we’re not cutting taxes either.”
According to director of finance Renee Stoyles, a one per cent municipal tax increase equals about $79,000 in additional tax revenue for the municipality.
“On an average of a $300,000 house, a one per cent tax increase... would be about $20 a month, which is about $1.75 a day.”
Mayor Gene Sobolewski requested a calculation of what that would cost business owners to be included in future budget deliberations.
“That’s the calculation that we (need), because it’s the businesses that are going to get nailed to the cross when we do these tax increases.”
Capital budget
Total revenue for the 2021 capital budget of $13.26-million and expenses of $36.41-million left a deficit of $23.14-million.
Stoyles said, “(The budget) includes all of the projects from the capital infrastructure plan, as well as projects that were deferred from 2020, which were most of the 2020 projects due to the regional waterline costs overrun.”
CAO Bill Rogers noted since council deferred a number of 2020 projects to 2021 they were "looking at the equivalent of two capital programs."
“At the end of the day, you’re probably looking at a scenario that looks a whole lot like this year being deferred to next year, and next year being deferred to the year after,” he added.
Revenues dropped by roughly $500,000 from 2020 to $36.41-million in 2021.
The provincial and federal capital grants saw a bit of a decrease in 2020, with administration projecting a roughly $90,200 decrease to $1.76-million in 2021.
Some of the carried over projects include construction of a crosswalk at the A&W for $200,000, the annual $2.22-million overlay road patching program, $90,000 for the relocation of the RV dump station, pool infrastructure engineering study and needs assessment for $1.18-million, $20,000 for playground upgrades, a fine arts facility feasibility study for $30,000, and trail upgrades to connect the Jessie Lake Trail to 66th St. for $1.1-million.
Coun. Elisa Brosseau was in favour of not putting off the majority of the projects if alternate funding could be found.
“We can go out there and find some grant funding for some of these projects. I would like us to work diligently on that this year because some of these projects, at some point, to just keep deferring them, we’re not going to get anywhere and some of them really need to get done,” she said.
Some undertakings scheduled for 2021 are rehab on the Pontiac Park road for $1.5-million, around $1.4-million for southeast sanitary force main upgrade, decommissioning the water treatment plant for $200,000, and developing a regional tourism strategy that is estimated to cost $50,000, among other projects.
Sobolewski suggested council sit down to discuss the capital and operating budget in order to determine what their priorities are and decide what projects should go ahead in 2021.
“I don’t think we’re doing the budget any justice with a 15 or 20-minute discussion without going into the nuts and bolts,” he stated.
Second drafts of the budgets will be presented to council during the regular meeting on Nov. 24, before the open house in council chambers on Dec. 1, which is scheduled for 6 p.m.