The City of Cold Lake has voted in favour of a 1.76 per cent average tax increase. During their regular council meeting on Tuesday, May 23, council voted to increase the municipal tax rate by 1.
The City of Cold Lake has voted in favour of a 1.76 per cent average tax increase.
During their regular council meeting on Tuesday, May 23, council voted to increase the municipal tax rate by 1.76 per cent on average to generate the taxation revenue required to meet the approved 2017 operating budget of $59.4 million. The increase follows five-years of steady tax rates for the city.
"This council has been very diligent in trying to hold the line in property tax for the last four or five years now," said Mayor Craig Copeland. "This is about as good as it can get at 1.76 per cent. We look at the last five years, and we barely raised the bar on taxes."
See next week's Lakeland Regional for more.
Bob Bezpalko, executive director for the Northeastern Alberta Hub made a presentation to council about some of their upcoming projects including a study of Highway 28 from Cold Lake to Gibbons, and an aerospace technology and defence project.
"They have to take a hard look at (Highway 28) because there are so many dangerous intersections along that highway... It's about time, it's long overdue," said Copeland. "It's a dangerous highway."
See next week's Lakeland Regional for more.
Council passed a motion to extend their Municipal Sustainability Initiative (MSI) funding agreement with the province of Alberta. The original agreement was scheduled to expire on October 23, 2017, but has now been extended to March 31, 2018.
"MSI funding is a huge boost for municipalities across Alberta," said Copeland. "For us... it's a big amount of money, and having the province continue the MSI allows us to look at capital projects in the city so we can fund them."
See next week's Lakeland Regional for more.
Kathryn Hotte, small business advisor with the Rural Alberta Business Centre (RABC), sent a letter to council requesting their support with her application for funding from the provincial government for the business incubator program.
Council voted to support the RABC with a letter.
