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Town approves operating budget, new tax rate

The Town of St. Paul is planning on a balanced budget this year, with a small increase in residential and commercial tax rates resulting in “not a lot of money to spend,” according to Mayor Glenn Andersen. “It’s a very tight budget here.
Putting a set of pedestrian lights at the St. Paul Shopping Mall and St. Paul & District Co-op Mall intersection has been long discussed and will be part of the
Putting a set of pedestrian lights at the St. Paul Shopping Mall and St. Paul & District Co-op Mall intersection has been long discussed and will be part of the town’s capital expense projects this year.

The Town of St. Paul is planning on a balanced budget this year, with a small increase in residential and commercial tax rates resulting in “not a lot of money to spend,” according to Mayor Glenn Andersen.

“It’s a very tight budget here. It’s tough, because you’re planning ahead for the carbon tax and things like that,” he said, adding that he expects that costs will increase for things such as running the water treatment and sewage treatment plant, as well as for town facilities such as the arenas.

The 2016 operating budget, which came in at just over $15.6 million, was approved at the May 24 regular council meeting last week, as was the tax rate bylaw to cover town operations and requisitions from the Alberta School Foundation Fund and the MD of St. Paul Foundation.

The total tax rate increases from 9.65 to to 10.01 for residential properties, and from 19.61 to 19.96 for commercial property, with the increase meant to cover increases in the school tax put forth by the province.

The average home assessment went up from $289,014 to $303,258, but assessment changes varied throughout the town. A big factor in increases people will see in their property tax bill is an increase of 24 per cent in the school tax, said Holly Habiak, chief financial officer and interim CAO for the town.

Habiak also said when it comes to budgeting, she prefers not to deal with surpluses or deficits.

“It’s a balanced budget. Our expenses will equal our revenues,” she said simply, adding money from taxation will cover operations and requisitions, while capital expense projects will come out of grants.

The Town of St. Paul received just over $1 million in Municipal Sustainability Initiative (MSI) funds this year, $360,240 in a Basic Municipal Transportation Grant, and $413,453 in federal gas tax funds, with moneys allocated to the capital projects.

The capital expense budget has yet to be approved, but there will be a few projects that will have to take place in the next year, said Andersen.

“It’s going to be a pretty short list,” he said, adding, however, that projects like roads and roof repairs are priorities. “It’s important to get these roads done in time before you run into bigger problems.”

Two projects that were deferred to the 2016 budget from last year include resurfacing the road at the intersection of 46th Street and 53rd Avenue, heading north, and the roads between the St. Paul & District Co-op Mall and the St. Paul Shopping Mall, which is “a pretty rough area, a well-used area,” notes Andersen. Those two projects will cost just under $300,000.

The long discussed pedestrian light at the Co-op intersection will finally be installed this year, which will cost an estimated $120,000.

The Town of St. Paul also has to set aside money for repairs to its Tourism Information Booth and the CAP Arena. Roof repairs came in at $140,000 for the CAP Arena, with the Tourism Information booth roof and ceiling repair estimated at $27,000.

“It’s not a lot of extravagant stuff, but it’s stuff that needs to be done,” said Andersen.

While town residents had argued for pushing through expansions to the Parent Link Centre, that project is still in the planning stages and the town is not budgeting for an expansion or renovation project at this point, said Andersen.

Andersen said he would prefer to be able to have a surplus and put some money away for the future, but says it looks to be an impossible task with this year’s budget. Going into next year, he said the town is asking each of its departments to try and “be diligent with the dollars,” and to try and stock away money in reserves for big-ticket items they might need.

“We’ve got to live within our means,” he said.

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