Morinville town council voted unanimously to defer second reading of the 2013 budget until its Nov. 27 meeting.
A public forum held Nov. 13 saw a number of residents come before council with presentations concerning the new budget. The presentations were followed by a question period. Administration agreed to post answers to the questions on the town council’s website for public viewing.
Resident Mavis Duperron spoke before council, expressing concerns about the fees she would be charged for using the Morinville Community Cultural Centre.
Duperron said she put down a deposit in July for a wedding in 2013 but had not been told how much she was supposed to pay to use the facility. Council later voted to table a discussion on new fees for the centre. Councillors were concerned the new fees would take away from services previously offered.
Proposed changes will see the daily rental fee remain the same but the time of use reduced from 18 hours to 12. The town is also proposing to charge extra for the use of the kitchen and linen services, and bring in a higher rate for commercial users and non-residents.
Coun. Sheldon Fingler moved that those who’ve already booked the facility and paid a deposit should be charged 2012 prices. This motion passed and the current fees will remain in effect until council approves new fees.
Council also heard from Cynthia Wandler, who proposed a plan for Morinville to create a re-usable items pick-up in the community.
Wandler said many families could benefit from a collective pick-up, which could take place on two weekends each year.
“Also giving residents the opportunity to give things away gives the town an opportunity to stay cleaner,” she said, adding that property crimes would decrease if people could clean out their garages to park their cars inside.
Other residents criticized the communication process of administration concerning residential fees.
Resident Paul O’Dea said administration needed to offer a clearer comparison between rates paid by residents in Morinville and other municipalities, especially concerning the town’s staffing costs.
He said past comparisons did not consider that other communities had lower staffing numbers than Morinville.
This gave a false impression of the town’s actual costs for staffing.
“An open exchange with baseline information is important to have people participate in the communication process,” he said.
Resident Linda Lyons said she would like town council to focus on two key issues in the budgeting process and have them completed by a certain year, instead of taking on too many at once.
Another presentation asked council for $100,000 from next year’s budget.
Paul Smith, festival chair of last year’s St. Jean Baptiste Festival, told councillors he hoped to use the money for two more festivals in the community.
Council gave first reading to the budget on Oct. 23. It consists of an $11 million operating budget combined with $3.6 million in capital projects.
Director of financial services, Andrew Isbister, previously said residents will experience a tax increase of no more than two per cent.
Maintaining the increase, and going ahead with all projects proposed, will leave the town with operational reserves of $8,500.
