Morinville homeowners will have to find another $180 to pay for taxes and utilities this year under the town’s just-approved operating budget.
Morinville councillors approved the 2022 operating budget March 22. They have yet to approve the capital, three-year operating, and five-year capital plans as required under the Municipal Government Act.
The Town of Morinville has been running under an interim budget since December. Council hit the brakes on the 2022 budget after the first draft proposed a 15.39-per-cent tax hike, and spent the last few months on revisions and consultations.
The revised budget, as approved March 22, features a five-per-cent tax hike for both residential and non-residential properties as council chose not to change the town’s residential/non-residential tax ratio.
In an email, town financial services manager Travis Nosko said this increase added about $127 to the annual tax bill for the typical $334,603 home. Commercial tax bills will rise $333 more on average, while industrial ones will increase $592.
Add in utility rates, which were also approved on March 22, and the average Morinville homeowner should expect to pay roughly $4,337 in municipal taxes and utility fees this year — about $180 more than last year, which is equivalent to nine family passes at the Morinville Leisure Centre. Changes to the Homeland Housing and school taxes are not yet available.
The budget includes numerous service cuts, including a 50-per-cent reduction in flower planting, the elimination of all town-funded “Live at the MCCC” events, and the cancellation of the town’s Easter Egg and Best Garden events. (Council considered cancelling the Snowman and French Heritage festivals, but those happened before they finalized the budget.)
Council cancelled plans to sell the town’s community bus (which will stay inactive this year as the town explores new funding models for it) and chose not to cut the Morinville Leisure Centre’s operating hours.
The approved budget leaves the town with a roughly $1.856-million tax-supported operating deficit — its biggest in at least a decade, and roughly $144,000 more than the one proposed to council in December.
“I don’t think anybody is happy with seeing that kind of deficit,” Mayor Simon Boersma said in an interview, particularly when it comes with a five-per-cent tax hike, but council had to contend with high inflation, a roughly $275,000 bill for RCMP retroactive pay, and a nearly $1-million cut to Municipal Sustainability Initiative funding.
“Having everything come against us isn’t helping any.”
Business break
Council voted 4-3 (Boersma and councillors Jenn Anheliger and Maurice St. Denis opposed) to keep the town’s split mill rate (the residential/non-residential tax ratio) at 1:1.1 instead of raising it to 1:1.15 as administration proposed — a move which added about $70,000 to the town’s operating deficit.
Coun. Scott Richardson, who proposed the rate freeze, said raising the rate at this point would drive up local prices and drive customers, and businesses, out of the community.
“In order for us to have a thriving community, we need to have a healthy business sector,” he said.
Coun. Ray White opposed the move, as it would potentially raise the town’s deficit to nearly $2 million.
“That is not healthy for this community.”
Coun. Stephen Dafoe said council had to decide if it wanted to stick with its goal of getting its split mill rate to 1:1.5, and said councillors should explore the idea of creating a separate tax category for small businesses.
Library cuts blunted
Council voted 3-4 against a motion from Coun. Rebecca Balanko to cut funds for the Morinville Community Library to $493,276, which is what the library got in 2020.
While the library had previously asked for $542,181 in support, library board trustee Linda Ladouceur lowered that request to $531,655 on March 22 after telling council the board had found additional savings.
Balanko said the town’s new community navigator position duplicates many of the social supports offered by the library, and said she could not support this increase when the town is asking other groups to take cuts.
Dafoe opposed the cut, and said library staff worked very hard during the pandemic to provide essential services to residents. This motion could reduce operating hours at the library and cut grandparents off from the Internet access they need to talk to their families.
“The services that are provided there are tremendous for the community,” he said.
Councillors Anheliger, Dafoe, St. Denis, and Richardson defeated Balanko’s motion. Council unanimously backed Anheliger’s motion to reduce the library’s funding to $531,655 as the board requested.
Council also backed a move from Dafoe to cancel a $30,000 study to explore alternative operating models for the town’s community cultural and leisure centres. Dafoe said the study was premature, and should not be done until the leisure centre has completed a full year of operations without pandemic restrictions.
Council will debate its capital, three-year operating, and five-year capital plans April 12. Tax rates will be officially set by bylaw some time next month.
Visit morinville.ca/en/town-hall/budget.aspx for details on the budget.
