Okotoks residents are not likely to see a tax increase in 2021.
Town council voted on June 8 to aim for a zero per cent increase to the municipal portion of property taxes as it approved its budget guidelines for the fall. The change from a proposed four per cent increase, which had been approved with the 2020 budget in December, will result in a shortfall of about $1.7 million in revenue for 2021. Guidelines also recommended four per cent increases for the years 2022 to 2025.
Lost revenue will be made up with reductions in expenditure, resulting in service level decreases. Okotoks CAO Elain Vincent said it will take some work to decide where the Town can cut back.
“There’s still a lot of work to do and now that we are hopefully able to put our energy into post-COVID and brainstorming opportunities to do municipal government in a different way, we can help reduce the expenditure level or revenue requirements going forward,” said Vincent.
The process could take some public consultation leading up to further budget discussions in the fall, she said.
Coun. Ed Sands said he’s in favour of collecting feedback from residents, particularly post-COVID when some may be struggling financially.
“We may find the public very amenable to expenditure decreases and the resulting service decreases,” said Sands.
Some cuts made may realize long-term benefits for the Town should they not be added back into the budget in future years, and could be as simple as not returning museum or art gallery operations to pre-COVID hours or changing staffing levels at the Okotoks Recreation Centre, and reducing pathway clearing, line painting, and other services.
In general, he said the public will likely support saving money on certain budget line items.
“I’m sure there are many folks out there who would feel we’re already spending too much money on things we don’t need to be spending it on,” said Sands. “If we’re using this forum, this excuse, COVID, as a reason to continue to cut back on expenditures, it’s a good thing.
"Rather than finding new sources of revenue, it’s find sources of expenditure cuts. I don’t think you’re going to find any enemies in that regard.
“It’s a prudent budget, which will maintain services as best we can in an affordable manner.”
Coun. Tanya Thorn shared concerns about passing shortfall issues on to subsequent years and the impact on future budgets with adjustments made in 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic.
She said there is opportunity now to discuss what municipal government should look like and the service levels and expenses that should be considered necessary as opposed to nice-to-have.
“I can already see the impact on reserves and we’re going to have to have some very significantly hard conversations about service level cuts, because just to continue to take this money out of reserves, we do not have the bank account for that,” said Thorn.
Ralph Ettenauer, director of finance and systems for the Town, said Okotoks aims to have $25 million in reserves throughout a 10-year capital plan.
He said administration will consider possible reductions in consultation with the public over the summer months, ahead of its September check-in with council, which is part of the Town’s budget planning process. From there, any necessary amendments to the budget will be made before council and the finance and audit committee make decisions in November and December.
“We’ll be doing a check-in with council in September to ensure the guidelines we established are still consistent and no changes are required, then we’ll be doing a presentation to council in November for consideration,” said Ettenauer.
The 2021 budget will be submitted for approval on Dec. 14, he said.
Krista Conrad, OkotoksToday.ca
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