Morinville will have a tiny bit more cash left in the bank next year after town council made some final trims to the budget this month.
Council voted 5-0 in favour of its 2013 budget on Dec. 11. Coun. Gordon Boddez was absent.
Town residents will pay two per cent more in taxes next year under the budget, which works out to about $38 to $40 more for the average property owner, said chief financial officer Andy Isbister. This does not include changes in property assessment and the province’s education levy, both of which will be determined next year.
While the first draft of the budget proposed to all-but eliminate the town’s operating reserves, council chopped about $300,000 out of it at second reading to leave more cash in the town’s pockets.
Some of the motions made last week took that cash right back out again.
Coun. Lisa Holmes added $10,000 to the community services budget to create a new fall festival, for example, one that would focus on community agriculture and heritage. It passed despite Coun. David Pattison’s opposition.
Council also supported Coun. Sheldon Fingler’s motion to put up a sign at the Community Cultural Centre for a to-be-determined amount of dollars.
The $10.65 million building does not have its own sign, and can easily be mistaken for part of the nearby high school.
“I hear in the community of people driving by saying, ‘Where’s the cultural centre?’ ” Fingler said. “We’ve got such a brilliant facility and people can’t find it.”
Administration would come back with a potential price for a sign next year, at which time council would hold a second vote on it. Coun. Nicole Boutestein later moved to revive the centre’s fundraising committee in part to find cash for this sign.
Pattison won the support of everyone but Fingler to reverse his cut to the tree-planting program, restoring it to $35,000. “We have some savings within the budget, and trees are important within the (municipal sustainability plan).”
Holmes cut funding for the town’s municipal sustainability plan stimulus to $10,000 from $20,000 with council’s full support. She later specified that this cash was to be used for initiatives other than the proposed toilet rebate program, with that program being funded out of the town’s utility budget instead.
Holmes also knocked the tennis court rehabilitation fund down to $120,000 from $160,000 with council’s support. “I just don’t feel it’s a priority this year.” The cut leaves enough money to restore the three tennis courts and remove the troublesome trees around them, but not enough to build a basketball court or replace the trees.
Council agreed with Boutestein’s move to knock $15,000 out of the community services budget, as that cash was already covered by another budget item. She also moved to set a trail enhancement fund at $35,000 (it had previously been listed as “to be determined”), with specific instructions that it cover the cost of tables and stoves for the town’s fish and game pond. That move passed 3-2, with Fingler and Pattison opposed.
Pattison tried to add a portable illuminated sign to the budget for $35,000, but was voted down by the rest of council. He also failed to convince council to hold a workshop on the role of the town’s new economic development officer.
Holmes attempted to snip $5,000 from a project to make the town’s fire chief a paid position instead of a volunteer one, but was opposed by everyone but Fingler.
There were no takers for the Morinville Festival Society’s request to add $100,000 to the budget to create several new festivals in town. The group will still get their regular $35,000 grant for the St. Jean Baptiste Festival.
Mayor Paul Krauskopf thanked everyone for the work on the budget. “A two per cent increase is, I think, palatable, and I think our reserves are still in good condition.”
The budget leaves $188,210 in the town’s operating reserves. The capital reserve had about $2 million in it as of second reading; administration was still calculating its final state as of this writing.
Budget details will soon be posted at www.morinville.ca
