LAC LA BICHE - Lac La Biche County councillors have approved the 2024 budget with operating expenditures of $70 million and anticipated operational revenues of $85.5 million.
The budget also calls for $50 million in capital expenditures for 2024. Some of those capital projects include the $2million upgrades at the Lac La Biche Golf Club, a million dollars for an access road onto county-owned property along 94 avenue that has been readied for commercial development, more than $5.5 million for water and sewer replacement projects within the Lac La Biche hamlet, and the recent addition of a $2 million plan to build an Emergency Vehicle Operations Centre in the municipality.
The framework of the overall budget has seen administrative areas chop 5 per cent from their balance sheets from the 2023 budget, with councillors asking for no reductions in service levels associated with those cuts.
In a press release on the budget, municipal officials say the new budget and the process to finalize it, “gave Administration new, clear direction on the 2024 budget, empowering staff and subject matter experts to make decisions within the approved budget, while reducing costs to taxpayers.”
The approval came at the beginning of this week, after five Special Council Meetings dedicated to budget deliberations
Taxes likely to rise - slightly
Municipal officials say the 2024 budget is based on a $1,880,705 property tax revenue increase, which projects a municipal tax rate in-crease of four percent for urban/rural residential and urban non-residential properties, and a 1.5 per cent increase in rural non-residential properties.
Actual tax rates are subject to confirmation of the 2024 property assessment in March 2024.
The formula that determined the tax rate changes is also part of the ongoing effort to bring industrial tax rates and residential rates within a five-to-one ratio. The propose tax rate increases will take the current ratio of 5.77:1 to a 5.63.
The provincial government has mandated that the municipality bring the rate to the 5:1 ratio. Although a set deadline has not been given by the province, it is expected soon.
In making the budget announcement, Lac La Biche County Mayor Paul Reutov said this year’s deliberations were “seamless” taking “quite minimal discussions”.
He congratulated council, administration and staff for making this year’s process a smooth one.
He also forecast continued growth in the community, building on the push for “investment readiness.”
