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Building owners in Jasper will see a reduction in their property tax bill this year.
Jasper Municipal Council has voted to collect $7 million from taxes this year, even lower than the $7.98 million that would have represented a zero per cent increase.
Council wanted to give Jasperites a break during the COVID-19 pandemic. They were one meeting away from setting the property tax rate at 5.3 per cent higher than last year when it hit.
But with tax savings comes service cuts, and the administration and finance departments have been calculating what can go.
Already, capital projects are on hold or cancelled, council鈥檚 trip to Hakone and all non-essential travel has been cancelled, some municipal staff will be laid off and pay rates for council and management have been frozen.
Other cost-saving measures to meet the new budget will include less frequent grass mowing, less litter picking and maintenance downtown, reduced cemetery maintenance and reduced road maintenance.
Mark Fercho, chief administrative officer for Jasper, said the budget is 鈥渁 moving target鈥� and it will have to be continually worked on behind the scenes because there are so many unknowns.
Councillor Paul Butler said: 鈥淚 know we are early in the game and this is going to be a long process with what looks like never enough - and that just reflects the fear and uncertainty in Jasper.鈥�
Mayor of Jasper, Richard Ireland, said the situation should be looked at on three levels: Reducing costs of essential services, taxpayers鈥� ability to pay, and how to best position the community for a recovery.
鈥淭he reality is, the only way we get out of this mess eventually is through spending,鈥� he said.
鈥淲hen people are allowed to come back, our facilities are critical to that and we don鈥檛 want to be in a position that we leave them closed because we don鈥檛 have the capacity through expenditure or staff to get started.鈥�
The budget amount was set at council鈥檚 virtual meeting on Tuesday morning, five days after Mayor Ireland released a video message about the municipality鈥檚 response to the pandemic.
In his video, Ireland said council and municipal staff are committed to helping the community survive this pandemic and to emerge even stronger and more united.
He also addressed council鈥檚 decision to defer penalties for late payment of all municipal property taxes and utility bills until September. During that same period, no water services will be disconnected due to payments in arrears.
鈥淲e recognise that so many businesses and individuals in our community simply do not have the ability to pay,鈥� said Ireland.
鈥淲e are committed to assisting you through this crisis.鈥�
He encouraged residents and businesses owners to keep paying their bills if they are able to, and to pass on deferrals to tenants if possible.
He said: 鈥淲e encourage everyone to assist each other in any way they can, while maintaining requirements of social and physical distancing and following the advice of health professionals.
鈥淲e are all in this together and we will get through it together.鈥�
