County residents might have to pay $127 more in taxes next year as part of a push to fix Sturgeon's ongoing road and drainage issues.
County council spent much of last week assembling the first draft of the 2015 budget.
County commissioner Peter Tarnawsky proposed a roughly $70 million budget Nov. 26 with a 4.2 per cent tax increase – about $62 more per year for the owner of the average $428,000 home. About 2.2 per cent of the hike was due to inflation. One per cent was for capital infrastructure, and one per cent was for drainage.
By the end of budget talks Friday, council had added 30 items to the budget worth about $1,479,000, said Rick Wojtkiw, manager of corporate support for the county.
The revised budget, if passed, will result in an 8.55 per cent tax hike, Wojtkiw said.
Add in a projected $45 and $1 increase in the education and seniors levies, respectively, and that works out to an average tax bill of $2,756.
An 8.55 per cent increase is $10 a month more for the average homeowner, said Mayor Tom Flynn in an interview.
"I feel good about that," he said, as all of those additional dollars were meant to address concerns raised by county residents at public meetings over the last year such as roads, drainage and bylaw enforcement.
Big items
The draft budget includes some $30 million in capital spending, or about 35 per cent more than the 2014 budget. Most of this jump was due to big capital projects such as the new Namao fire hall and the Allin Ridge reservoir expansion.
The draft also has heavy investment in drainage issues.
The county has a backlog of some $8 million in drainage work to fix ongoing flood problems, Wojtkiw said.
Past councils haven't put the money down to catch up on this work, and county residents want action, Flynn said.
"We are committed to adding one per cent (to the tax rate) each year just for drainage projects," Flynn said, or about $340,000 more in capital spending.
This one per cent will go toward regional drainage problems such as the flooding around Villeneuve and Cardiff, Flynn and Wojtkiw said. A separate addition of $275,000 in operational cash will help fix smaller, local flood problems (such as clogged culverts).
Council approved about $682,000 for enhanced road maintenance. This money will let one of the county's top operators focus exclusively on shoulder-pulling to fix gravel roads, Flynn said.
It's a lot of money, Coun. Karen Shaw said in council, but this was one of the most important items council could add to the budget.
"Roads are the number one issue in the county," she said, and this project will produce visible results.
Other items
Council also plans to spend about $263,000 to hire two industrial property assessors to help with the Sturgeon Refinery, Flynn said.
"This is the biggest industrial project in Canada," he said, and these positions will help assess it for tax purposes.
West Country Hearth is getting about $20,777 more than it did last year so that it gets the equivalent amount of support as the Sturgeon Foundation, Flynn said. Community groups will get about $100,000 in grants, while municipal governments in the county will get about $330,000 ($30,000 more) to support their recreational facilities.
"We recognize that we're not carrying our load," Flynn said, referencing the ongoing dispute over what the county pays towns such as Morinville for its use of their halls and arenas. The county and the towns are still working on a new cost-sharing formula to address this issue.
Another item is a proposal to create a minimum tax for all properties, Wojtkiw noted.
"We have 800 properties that are taxed for less than $50," he explained – often less than what it costs the county to send them the tax notice. This proposal, if passed, would tax these properties enough for the county to recoup the cost of the mail-out.
Other additions include $50,000 for traffic calming measures, $85,000 for a parks and open spaces master plan and a $65,719 fund to cover emergency bridge repairs.
Residents can also expect a 10 per cent jump in utility rates, the draft budget suggests. Water rates will increase by about 15 cents a cubic metre (about $5.38 more per month on average) while wastewater will go up about 14 cents a cubic metre (about $4.84 more).
The budget goes to a vote Dec. 9. The actual tax rate won't be set until April 2015 when the county learns what it has to pay to the Sturgeon Foundation and Alberta Education.
