County residents will be out at least $71 more in taxes next year now that council has approved its 2014 budget – a budget that cuts support for a regional trail along the North Saskatchewan River.
County council voted unanimously in favour of its 2014 budget Tuesday. The $62 million budget features a roughly 5.08 per cent tax hike, or a little less than last year's 5.77 increase.
Council also made a last-minute cut to the budget related to the River Valley Alliance Trail, a $605 million 25-year regional project to create an 88-kilometre long park along the North Saskatchewan River.
The budget had originally featured an $820,000 item to build a roughly 10-kilometre trail segment along the river from an abutment south of the Highway 15 bridge to the Sturgeon River. The county was to pay $274,000 of this, with the rest coming from the federal and provincial governments.
Coun. Jerry Kaup was one of several councillors to raise concerns about this item.
"We have a lot of needs in our own county," he said. "I think it would be much better spent in our own backyard."
Coun. Karen Shaw agreed, and noted that the proposed trail had no bridge links to the rest of the trail system across the river.
"It could be a trail from nowhere to nowhere," she said.
She still supported the project, she added, and said the county should stay with the alliance.
This will be a great project in the future if the county finds the money for it, said Coun. Ferd Caron, the county's current representative on the river group.
"At this point in time, I think we have to take care of our own residents."
Council moved unanimously to cut the trail from its capital budget, where it had been listed as a $900,000 item. As this cash was to come from grants and reserves, the cut had no effect on the tax rate.
River Valley Alliance spokespeople were unavailable for comment by press deadline.
Average bill: $2,612 (maybe)
The budget includes cash for many projects, including $40,000 to fix Alcomdale's water supply, $90,480 to support West Country Hearth (in the form of a $4 per year per household levy), and $16.2 million to fix roads. It also adds about eight new workers to the county, including a part-time firefighter and a full-time utilities officer.
The tax hike works out to about $71 for the average home (pegged at $415,030), budget documents suggest, or about $1,480 in municipal taxes a year.
Add in a projected $43 hike in the education levy, a $4 hike in the seniors levy and the new $4 West Country Hearth levy, and the average homeowner can expect to spend $2,612 in taxes next year, or $118 more than this year. Note that the province and the Sturgeon Foundation control the education and seniors levy, respectively, and will not set them until next year.
Budget documents suggest that the county's tax rate was lower than those of Lamont, Leduc, Parkland, Thorhild and Strathcona counties.
Mayor Tom Flynn thanked council for its work on the budget.
"It sets a good model for the future of this county," he said.
Fees up, too
Residents can also expect higher fees. In a related motion, council approved a slew of fee hikes for its various services, most of which rose by about two per cent.
But a number rose one or twofold, Flynn noted with concern. The fee for mowing enforcement (where the county mows down weeds when an owner refuses to) jumped to $100 from $50, for example, while appeal fees under the Weed Act quintupled to $500.
When asked to explain these hikes, administrators told council that the hikes were done to ensure cost recovery and alignment with similar fees in the region. The Weed Act fee was set by the province.
Coun. Wayne Bokenfohr approved of the higher weed fees, as he knew of one repeat offender who was not deterred by the current ones.
"It penalizes the ones who are abusing the system," he said.
Homeowners should expect to pay about 10 per cent more on average for utilities, the budget reports, with monthly rates for water lines set to rise by $5.45.
The new fees take effect Jan. 1, 2014.
Details of the fees and the budget are available through the county office.
