Homeowners will have to pay about $78 more a year in taxes next year in Sturgeon County, despite protests from the mayor that the county’s taxes have risen at an unsustainable rate.
County council voted 5-2 in favour of the 2013 budget Tuesday, with Coun. Don McGeachy and Mayor Don Rigney opposed. The budget raises taxes by 5.77 per cent to pay for new roads and staff needed to support future industrial growth, particularly the North West upgrader.
That works out to about $78 a year for the average homeowner, or $18 per quarter section of farmland. Businesses will pay about $548 more a year.
This doesn’t account for the education and seniors levy, which will be set by the province and the Sturgeon Foundation (respectively) next year. The budget projects that these levies will add $43 to the tax bill, meaning the typical homeowner would pay $121 more next year.
Council had originally considered a 3.65 per cent increase, which would have meant $50 more for the average resident, but added about $592,000 in service enhancements to the budget in late November. Those enhancements included $50,000 for trail planning, $80,000 for land for a new Namao fire hall and $125,000 for a new phone system.
Coun. Karen Shaw won unanimous support for her move Tuesday to add $100,000 to the county’s community service board grant fund as part of the budget. The cash comes from royalties the county collects from gravel extraction. This was a one-time addition meant to address a shortfall in the fund, she noted.
Coun. David Kluthe also got council’s support to hire a new firefighter instead of a new administrative assistant for the fire department, adding $34,702 to the budget. While the department had originally requested office staff, Fire Chief Pat Mahoney told council that his department had found new administrative efficiencies over the last few months and now thought this cash could be better used to fund a firefighter.
The final total came to $62,497,956 in spending. About 48 per cent of this money will go toward roads, construction equipment, two new bridges and other infrastructure projects.
Residents will also pay 14 per cent more on their utility bills, which works out to about $8.25 a month more for freshwater and $4.23 a month more for wastewater.
This budget recognizes the county’s need to raise salaries to retain staff, said Coun. Ken McGillis, and enhances many services to rural residents.
“If we’re going to move our municipality forward, we have to be sure we have the resources to do it,” he said.
The enhancements council added to the budget were investments in the future, said Coun. Tom Flynn, ones that would help the county manage the growth that would come with the North West upgrader.
“This is a small investment for what we expect very soon to be a reward for the residents of the county,” he said.
Net municipal taxes have jumped about 400 per cent in the county over the last 15 years, Rigney said — far in excess of population growth or inflation.
“I cannot support that growth,” he said. “What we are doing is not sustainable.”
But when McGillis asked Rigney what cuts he would make to the budget to make it more acceptable, Rigney said the time for that question was past and reiterated his criticism.
McGeachy echoed Rigney’s concerns about the growth in spending, but noted that much of the budget was necessary.
“Pass the Kool-Aid, I think I might just support this,” he said. When it came time to vote he didn’t support the budget.
Kluthe questioned whether the county needs to spend about $2 million on new road-building equipment, but supported the budget as a whole.
Full details will soon be available at sturgeoncounty.ab.ca.
