The average St. Albert homeowner could have to dig a little deeper into their pockets to pay for next year’s taxes and utilities, if city councillors decide to increase property taxes by 1.1 per cent.
St. Albert city council received the proposed 2021 budget during Monday’s council meeting.
“Hold on to your seats, because this is about as rocky and rolly as municipal budgeting can get over the next few weeks,” said Kevin Scoble, chief administrative officer, during the council meeting.
City staff managed to reduce a projected $14.4-million deficit brought on by COVID-19 to $500,000 this year, but those cutbacks were one-time solutions. Council now has three options: raise taxes without any service reductions, reduce service levels and not raise taxes, or find middle ground between the two.
Administration favoured the middle-ground approach, recommending a 1.1-per-cent property tax increase with “modest” reductions to services within an operating budget of $112.4 million.
To put this in context, the typical $450,000 home would pay about $3,802 annually in taxes or $317 a month – about $40 more over the course of the year than they currently pay. A business owner with a non-residential property valued at $1 million would see a $114 increase to their property tax.
That could have been higher if staff didn’t move some revenue around. To keep services and service levels at status-quo, the city would need to raise $3.8 million to cover its expenses, which would have resulted in a 3.5-per-cent tax increase. But the city is due to be reimbursed by the province for some of its COVID-19 costs and would be able to apply $2 million of that money against the tax requirement.
Administration is also recommending an additional $544,000 from new assessment growth (additional taxes generated by new properties) be used to knock half a per cent off the tax requirement.
“I am very proud of the continued work by administration to find cost efficiencies, reducing the initial tax requirement from 3.5 per cent down to 1.1 per cent, which is in line with the inflationary increase of the municipal price index,” Scoble said.Mayor Cathy Heron thanked administration for preparing a “very well-organized” budget. Given the current challenges facing the municipality amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Heron commended the work done to lower the tax impact to a 1.1-per-cent increase.
Meanwhile, the proposed utility rate comes in a hair lower than it was last year – down by 0.03 per cent, or $0.40 per month. That puts the average monthly utility bill for 2021 at $133.04, which means the average homeowner would pay $450 a month plus change for taxes and utilities in 2021.
What would happen if the city decided not to raise taxes at all? About $1.23 million would need to come from somewhere, likely through a sweeping but temporary service level reduction that could impact Grosvenor Pool, community grants, events and public art, depending on council approval, Scoble said.
Capital
A $39.4-million municipal capital budget includes $26 million for 29 repair, maintenance and replacement projects that were approved in July. There are 10 new projects for $6 million, including $3.1 million for construction on Red Willow Park and $400,000 for an area structure plan for Lakeview Business District and Badger Lands. There are also five projects that were approved in September for $7.4 million.
The full 2021 operating and capital budgets were due to be presented to council for discussion on Nov. 3 at 2 p.m. in city council chambers, after press time. Council will debate any motions made and amend the budget before it comes back for final approval on Dec. 21.
Residents have until Nov. 19 to weigh in using the city's new Cultivate the Conversation online platform. The city is also hosting two world café conversations over Zoom with select community members to talk about the proposed budget.
