Town council approved the 2022-25 budget during the Dec. 13 meeting and with that come changes to rates and service levels for Okotokians.
“I think what yesterday showed, from my perspective, is that council is really comfortable with the direction we took,” Mayor Tanya Thorn said on Dec. 14. “We are investing in community health and safety, and we really believe that the direction we’re taking here makes sense for our community.”
The 2.5 per cent increase to property taxes will equate to approximately $4.91 per month or $58.85 per year for ratepayers. This would equate to $2,416 per year for the average household, based on an assessment of $450,000.
This increase will result in additional revenue of $740,000 for the town. Tax revenue accounts for 47 per cent of the funds needed for the total operating budget.
The 2022 operating budget, which covers ongoing costs of services to residents, including municipal programs, town facility utilities, funding for community events and support programs, was set at $66.11 million. Staff salaries also come out of this portion of the budget.
The significant funds allotted to the operating budget are part of council’s work to increase service levels in the community.
Two full-time and one part-time peace officer will be added to the fleet with these funds. Municipal fire services will also see the addition of eight new full-time firefighters.
Fire services operate out of two halls, one in the north and one in the south. Currently, staff volume allows for stations to be staffed with two firefighters at all times, meaning that to have the standard of four to attend a scene, the halls have to combine.
Thorn said this procedure is slowing down response times, particularly for calls in the south of town. The goal with these new hires is to standardize and increase service across the board.
“We really wanted to make sure we could get to the right service level and that our whole community had a similar response time with four members on site,” she said.
She added that another reason for this decision is to deal with the tie-up of municipal firefighters staying longer and longer for medical first response calls, as ambulance wait times continue to increase substantially.
Utilities will increase by 2.8 per cent, on average, for the delivery of water, sanitary services and sewer, storm and waste management. This increase will also contribute to the hiring of an additional full-time employee and one part-time employee.
This will equate to an increase of $7.07 per bi-monthly billing period, or $42.42 per year.
Fees for recreation and facility rental rates, not including drop-in rates, will increase by three per cent in the upcoming year. With that, one additional aquatic employee will be hired to meet provincial operating standards.
Funds to develop new infrastructure, amenities and long-term fixed assets associated with service delivery, termed the capital budget, has been earmarked at $20.44 million. This number is the culmination of grants, reserves and offsite levies.
In total, the capital budget for 2022-25 has been estimated at just short of $100 million.
Other significant discussions throughout budget deliberations, which took place from Nov. 23-25, include the increase in transit delivery and a feasability study of installing an outdoor skating rink.
Thorn and Coun. Ken Heemeryck were the lone veterans at the council table during this process. With councillors Gord Lang, Rachel Swenseid, Oliver Hallmark, Brent Robinson and Cheryl Actemichuk partaking in their first municipal budget.
The mayor said she was pleased by the efforts of the newcomers and said that discussion is the best way to approve budgets and foster democracy.
“I really think our new colleagues did a great job of digging into a really big budget binder and they came prepared to committee,” she said. “They asked really good questions and they had clear ideas of directions they wanted to go.”
