St. Albert's proposed budget would see a 3.6 per cent property tax increase for homeowners and an increase of 3.68 per cent for non-residential ratepayers.
These increases would mean an extra $108 in property tax for a $400,000 home and an extra $403 for a business assessed at $900,000.
Also proposed in the budget is a 9.5 per cent increase to utility rates, which cover water use and waste pickup. The average homeowner could expect to pay an extra $8.83 per month, which includes the addition of a $5.77 fee for curbside organic waste pickup.
User fees are pegged to increase three per cent on average.
City administration presented the proposed budget to council Monday evening.
"Only justifiable tax increases from the 2010 budget are brought forward in the budget that you have before you," said city manager Bill Holtby. "Most business cases and new spending were deferred or cancelled."
In building the 2011 budget, the city's senior management did a line-by-line review of its spending, Holtby said.
City managers identified $2.7 million worth of new spending that it chose not to recommend, Holtby said. This would have represented a further 3.9 per cent tax increase.
The proposed budget includes $14.6 million worth of capital projects in 2011.
Council will deliberate detailed department budgets throughout November and early December with a final budget decision expected Dec. 20. A public town hall meeting is scheduled for Monday Nov. 15.
Solid starting point, says mayor
Mayor Nolan Crouse was pleased that St. Albert is starting with a lower proposed increase than other municipalities in the region.
"As a starting point, it wasn't out of line and I thought it was fine," Crouse said. "Until we see all of the details by department I don't know what the opportunities are."
Coun. Roger Lemieux also said administration had come up with a good starting point.
"I'm not overly disappointed with 3.6 but I personally would like to see it lower than three per cent," Lemieux said. "Will it get down to one-and-a-half? I don't think so."
"I think administration has done a really good job of weeding out the unnecessary," said Coun. Cathy Heron. "They've given us a pretty bare bones budget."
Coun. Cam MacKay was also impressed.
"Usually after an election the first year you see quite hefty increases. Three point six per cent is the best that I can recall seeing, ever," he said. "I was quite pleasantly surprised but there's still some work to do."
Coun. Len Bracko said he intends to bring forward a motion to limit the tax increase to 1.5 per cent, as he pledged during the election campaign. He said he hasn't yet gone through the budget information thoroughly enough to know where these savings can be achieved.
"If you don't try, you're never going to achieve it," Bracko said.
Lynda Flannery of the St. Albert Taxpayers' Association would like to see an increase of 1.5 per cent or less.
"As a starting place I think it's fine," she said, of 3.6 per cent. "There's a lot of work to get it down to a more reasonable level."
