The County of St. Paul council members approved the 2018 budget during April’s monthly county meeting, April 10, and is projected a slight surplus overall.
There are a number of changes with this year’s budget. The Alberta government has increased the School Requisition, meaning an increase in school tax this year. A requisition is when another body has the power to inform a municipality how much they need to collect for a specific need.
“People say ‘well my taxes went up,’ but sometimes we don’t even raise the taxes because we get the requisition,” County CAO Sheila Kitz told the Journal.
A new requisition this year requires owners of oil and gas properties, as well as other properties deemed to be “Designated Industrial Properties,” to pay an additional tax. Assessors will determine whether a specific property falls under the category. The tax rate is “equal among all municipalities for the cost of providing the assessment,” the budget reads.
Property values had a total increase of six per cent, with two per cent coming from new construction, and the remainder coming from changes in market values. Lake areas saw more of an increase in property value than homes in subdivisions not around water.
“(People) won’t be paying more taxes because of the tax rate, they’ll be paying more taxes if the market value of their property went up, or if they added onto their property,” explained Kitz.
The county is in its third year of a five-year reassessment plan. In 2017, assessors discovered 228 “unpermitted developments,” in the area. Those residents will receive notices requiring them to get a permit, and will likely see increased in taxation for 2018.
The municipal tax rate on non-residential properties has increased 0.6 per cent, which “accounts for about $550,000” of the $1.2 million in increased overall tax revenue in this year’s budget, according to Kitz.
“Some of it is because the requisition for school went up, and the requisition for the MD (Foundation) went up, but probably half of that is because of the increase of the municipal tax rate on non-residential properties.”
The MD Foundation requisition will see an increase for 2018. The foundation is made up of seniors’ housing facilities in the area. The county’s budget also accounts for increases attributed to the carbon tax.
“I think we’ve done a pretty good job considering it’s been a tough year with changes and adjustments that have been made in funding,” County of St. Paul Reeve Steve Upham said.
Council brought over $1,681,405 in budget surplus to use in 2018, and a surplus of $16,504 is projected for the overall 2018 budget. Total operating and capital revenues are pegged at $44.9 million. Operating expenses are set at $29.2 million, and capital expenses are set at $17.4 million. The budget also sets aside $256,000 for replacement reserve, and $842,150 for debenture repayment.
Projects
In Public Works, the county has set aside $2.4 million for oiling and paving roads, as well as planning for construction of 14 miles of roads and the replacement of three bridges and repairing a fourth.
The slide area on Moose Hills Road near Elk Point is in need of immediate attention, as the county has a pending application for the Strategic Transportation Infrastructure Program (STIP), as well as the bridges in need of repairs or replacement.
Kitz says the county hasn’t heard back from the province about the application.
“If we don’t get the STIP grant, council is going to have to make a decision on this because (Moosehills Road is) a $2 million project.”
If they are successful in receiving the funding, the county “will be partnering with industry to fund 50 per cent of the project,” (about $1 million), with plans to “short-term borrow 25 per cent of the anticipated cost of the project,” the budget explains.
The county received funding to extend the waterline from Ashmont to Mallaig, with an initial completion date in 2017. The project is now expected to be completed in 2018. The total cost of construction is $10.2 million, with the county pitching in $720,000 of the total. The provincial and federal governments will provide the remaining funds.
“We’re positioned to get some great projects undertaken. We’re happy to have the Ashmont-Mallaig project underway and that’s going to be completed this year. There’s a few projects that we’re getting off our books, so that’s good to see,” Upham said.
Compensation
Council approved new compensation grids for its staff, “based on market value determined by a survey of 20 municipalities with similar assessment base as the County,” the budget explains.
CAO Kitz will receive a 1.3 per cent compensation increase, about $2,200. County Reeve Steve Upham will also have a salary increase of $190 per month.
“I think basically we haven’t done anything for seven years, and I think that’s a challenge, when you don’t do anything for (that long). Then when we reviewed we treated the council basically the same as we did with the staff. We did a scan of where (other) counties were and then just brought ourselves up into where other counties were and that indicated an increase,” Upham commented about the raises.
“It’s unfortunate, but you have two choices. You either do it every year incrementally or when you do an adjustment, the perception is (that) it’s a big adjustment.”
In addition, the rates council members to attend committee meetings and conferences or professional development events have seen a bump.
Councillors will now receive $190 per in-county committee meeting, an increase from $165. Councillors will receive $240 per meeting, up from $190, for meetings or conferences outside of the county greater than 170 km.
Mileage reimbursement went up from 52 cents per kilometre to 54 up until 5,000 km, where the reimbursement rate is 48 cents/km.
Other
The Fire budget has increased an additional $120,000 as the county is set to purchase a water tanker truck for the Ashmont Fire Department. A paid Deputy Chief position will also be put into place in order to create standardized training throughout the four fire departments. County also agreed to budget $136,000 annually to be put into a capital reserve for equipment replacement.
The county will provide $118,955 in funding to the Library Boards, the same amount as 2017, and $34,310 to the Northern Lights Library System.
The County will contribute $300,000 to the Town of St. Paul for upkeep in recreation facilities, and $75,000 to Elk Point for the same. In addition, an Alberta Community Partnership Grant to “better understand recreation facilities and needs in our region” as per the budget, is funding a study to be completed by fall of this year.
