Morinville residents could be in for a 3.5-per-cent tax hike this year as the 2022 town budget debate moves into its final stretch.
Morinville council called on administration to draw up a budget based on a 3.5-per-cent tax increase, a 1-to-1.15 residential/non-residential tax split, and a plethora of cuts and additions during its Feb. 8 meeting.
A 3.5-per-cent tax hike would add about $88 to the tax bill of the average $331,629 home — enough for 11 one-day adult passes at the Morinville Leisure Centre.
Council held off on passing the 2022 budget in December after administration proposed a 15.39-per-cent tax hike (five per cent regular taxes plus a 10.39 per cent one-time sidewalk and road repair levy), which would have added about $397 (roughly the price of a one-year adult membership at the town’s leisure centre) to the average residential tax bill.
Council passed an interim budget equivalent to 20 per cent of the draft instead, and has been debating a final version over the last two months.
Snow problems
Council agreed to allow public works to immediately tap 100 per cent of the snow-removal funds in the draft budget after infrastructure services manager Jordan Betteridge told them of how recent wild weather has brought the town’s snow crews to their knees.
“We have already hauled more snow in January than we have in all of the last winter season combined,” Betteridge said.
Betteridge said crews have been overwhelmed with investigating some 170 snow-removal complaints this season and short-staffed as they have two vacant positions and many people sick with COVID. Their ploughs are taking a beating from grinding thick ice from roads and are often obstructed by parked cars. Salt, sand, and fuel costs have skyrocketed, and freezing rain hads frozen their sand storage pile solid.
Betteridge said his department has burned through 80 per cent of its interim snow-clearing budget and asked to tap all the snow-removal funds listed in the December draft budget. He also asked for another $75,000 for snow removal in the final 2022 budget to cover the upcoming November/December period.
“If we do not move forward with adequate funding … [we will] be putting our team in an impossible position,” Betteridge said.
Betteridge recommended council revise its snow and ice control policy (e.g. by specifying if its references to snow depth refer to compacted or loose snow) and pump up its snow-clearing reserves.
“With extremes in climate becoming more often, we need to be flexible and prepared.”
Service cuts
Council directed administration to include a lengthy list of cuts and additions in its next draft budget, including cuts to operating hours at the town’s leisure centre and a $75,000 addition for snow removal. Council also moved to cancel a proposed percentage cost-of-living wage hike to non-unionized staff and replace it with a one-time payment similar to the one unionized staff are to receive.
Council approved a motion from Coun. Stephen Dafoe to cut council’s honorariums/salary by five per cent until the end of the current term.
Council supported Coun. Jenn Anheliger’s call to add $75,569 to the Morinville Library’s budget, restoring it to 2020 funding levels. Also supported was a call from Coun. Rebecca Balanko to cut the Musée Morinville Museum’s funding by 10 per cent, as that is roughly the difference between the amount of money the library had requested and what it was getting.
A 10-per-cent cut would reduce the museum’s budget to $96,300, which is slightly below the $97,000 it got in 2016. In an interview, Murray Knight of the Morinville Historic and Cultural Society (which runs the museum) said his group would speak to council about this cut at the Feb. 15 committee of the whole meeting.
The draft 2022 budget will return to council for debate March 8.
