Municipal council approved a 4.55 per cent property tax increase for the 2016 budget, May 3.
The tax increase is a full percentage point lower than was initially proposed in December, but remains in line with the interim budget council passed in January.
By approving the budget, council also approved increasing utility rates for services such as water and garbage.
The increase means residents who own a property assessed at $750,000 will see their property tax bill increase by $95.48 for a total of $2,194.03.
Bimonthly utility bills will also increase for residents by about $15鈥揹epending on water usage鈥揻or a total of $146.93.
The biggest impact will be felt by business owners who continue to shoulder the largest percentage of the municipal tax burden.
For a business assessed at $1 million owners will see their property bill increase by $647.15 to $14,870.15.
The utility hike would see a business鈥� bimonthly bill increase by about $406.70 for a total of $8,899.51, depending on water usage.
Council approved the $15.6 million budget by a vote of 5-1. Coun. Helen Kelleher-Empey voted against the budget, while Coun. Rico Damota had to leave early for a doctor鈥檚 appointment.
A 4.55 per cent tax increase equates to an overall revenue increase of $311,833.
Included in the budget are several new staff positions, which include adding a new full-time deputy fire chief, a utilities manager responsible for overseeing the town's water and sewer operations as well as a full-time maintenance worker.
A new deputy fire-chief will bring the number of full-time paid firefighters to three.
In addition to the new staff positions, the budget included $310,000 to purchase a new garbage truck, a one tonne truck as well as a Frost Hog to help repair infrastructure during the winter.
Money was also reallocated from the operations department's fleet replacement program.
Instead of purchasing five vehicles, administration decided to buy three vehicles and lease the other two, saving tens of thousands of dollars in the process.
Administration also decided against purchasing a third SUV for the protective services department saving another $30,000.
Rather than cutting the tax rate with the new found savings, administration opted to transfer those funds into the town's reserves, raising eyebrows among several councillors.
In April, council had briefly debated the pros and cons about whether it was financially prudent to consider leasing, buying or taking out loans to purchase municipal vehicles.
Coun. Gilbert Wall questioned why the savings were automatically transferred into the town's reserves instead of reducing the tax rate.
鈥淢aybe I'm a bit naive in thinking that when we went through this process what I was looking for and maybe some other members of council were looking for, was [if there was] a way to have an effect on the tax envelope,鈥� said Wall.
Coun. Kelleher-Empey voiced similar concerns.
鈥淭he way I thought about it, like Coun. Wall, is that by leasing we could try and reduce the tax envelope.鈥�
Natasha Malenchak, the director of finance, acknowledged their concerns, but said the municipality's reserves need to be replenished.
鈥淭he restricted reserves put away in previous years to me is not sufficient,鈥� said Malenchak, pointing to the cultural and recreation department which has a negative reserve fund.
鈥淭he intent of my plan鈥搊ur plan鈥搃s to set us up for the future.鈥�
Bruce Thompson, the director of operations, described this year's budget as a 鈥渃atch-up year鈥� for the town's aging fleet.
鈥淕oing forward our asset management plan will give us the theoretical life of all of our assets, let us know where our risks are, what the expenditures are in each of those areas and then in our restricted reserve funding we'll be putting money away to replace and renew those assets over time.鈥�
During the meeting there was confusion as to how much is currently in the town's reserves and what the town's policy is in regards to the minimum amount that it is required to keep on hand. It was聽 suggested that the town's policy requires the municipality to keep $2 million in its reserve fund.
According to Malenchak, the municipality's restricted and unrestricted reserves totalled more than $5 million as of Dec. 31, 2015, but that has since changed with money being used for various capital projects.
Mark Fercho, the town's chief administrative officer, cautioned that those numbers have fluctuated since December, and committed to coming back to council in order to clarify the municipality's policy.
The general consensus by the end of the meeting was to approve the budget as is, with the caveat that future tax increases would be limited.
鈥淚t has been both the best budget in my years on council and the worst and now I say that because this is the first time the budget has been presented where it's addressed future needs as well as maintaining existing levels of service,鈥� said Coun. Gilbert Wall, who asked administration to keep future tax increases within the Consumer Price Index.
Paul Clarke
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