Foothills residents shouldn’t see a change to the municipal portion of their taxes in 2021.
County council voted Dec. 9 to adopt its operational and capital budgets, with an eye on holding the line on the operations side.
“That means we’ve had to reallocate some items in order to come up with that zero increase on the County side, as well as maintaining service levels with some juggling going on,” said Reeve Suzanne Oel.
Though the County is aiming at no increase on its portion of the mill rate over 2020, she said there are some variables on the provincial side that could impact actual tax levels come spring.
One such cost is the rural policing framework, which will cost the County close to $1 million for the upcoming year, and will be nearly $2 million afterward.
“We did ask for more RCMP,” said Oel. “The increase in RCMP is giving us that extra protection we need, and that will have to be put into the mill rate.
“They scaled that cost over a few years and it’s moved now from a pilot to a rural policing model, so we’re happy to share that.”
The County will also be waiting to hear what requisition amounts from the Province will be in 2021, such as the education tax. Other variables include the changes to the linear assessment model and losses in oil and gas revenue, she said.
There are also costs associated with joint agreements with neighbouring municipalities, such as recreation levies, she said.
In addition, an unprecedented year with COVID-19 could result in overall revenue losses, which the County will not know until its year-end is completed.
“Some of our revenue sources are being affected by that, and we did have some grants come our way, which we’re very thankful for, but we may have some other things that will affect that bottom line,” said Oel.
Many of the County’s projects are still moving ahead on the capital side of the budget, but Oel said there have been challenges there as well.
“Our money isn’t going as far as it used to, with inflation,” she said. “We’re just not getting as much road work done as we’d like to.”
She said 2020 hasn’t done the County any favours in that department, either. Weather in the spring wreaked havoc on roads around the Foothills, causing damage that in many cases has not been resolved yet.
It’s made the County consider having a nest egg for future.
“All that work has not yet been taken care of, so another topic is having a decent contingency amount in place - $1.143 million – in order to prepare for the knowns and the unknowns, which are going to add up by 2022,” said Oel.
She said the impacts will be felt largely due to an anticipated reduction in grant funding coming to the County.
Residents should not see any reduction in service levels despite the County holding the line on its budget, said Oel.
In many cases, work and purchases were deferred, staff has been shuffled and some vacancies will not be filled, she said.
“It was really in recognition that you’ve got to weigh whether you’re going to do that or you’re going to pass on a zero increase,” said Oel. “This year was quite a struggle and we did recognize the community is going to be in recovery on so many levels, so the zero increase on our part was essential.”
