The Town of Battleford is presenting its proposed budget for 2020 at a special meeting at 7 p.m. on Dec. 5. (file photo/battlefordsNOW Staff)

By Angela Brown

Battleford Budget

Town of Battleford proposing one per cent municipal tax increase

Dec 5, 2019 | 2:08 PM

The Town of Battleford is proposing a one per cent municipal tax increase in its first draft of its proposed 2020 budget that will be presented at its meeting tonight. No increase is proposed for utility rates.

The special meeting that is open to the public will be held at 7 p.m. at town hall.

“Administration is going to present a balanced budget tonight,” Mayor Ames Leslie said. “There are still some asks in front of council which still need to see approval as to what direction we go.”

Leslie said depending on councillors’ thoughts and perhaps some feedback from the public, the town may still see the budget change again before the Dec. 16 date when it is expected to be approved.

The mayor said the town proposed a one per cent municipal tax increase to balance the budget so it would not need to use the town’s reserves.

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“There always needs to be a plan in place to cover off future spends, future projects,” he said. “If you continue to balance the budget by using reserves, then you are taking away your savings for future spends.”

Leslie said since the town’s roads, sidewalks, and curbs need to be continuously upgraded, the town needs to put money aside for these future infrastructure projects. That’s why it needs to increase taxes to increase its savings.

“Sometimes you need to look at what a modest, a small increase to the tax-base will mean, so you can fix more streets, more often, than get into a situation where you are not doing anything because there is no money left to do it,” he said.

Members of the public who wish to speak at the public portion of tonight’s meeting must have registered with the town in advance. The town was accepting letters from the public until 3 p.m. today in order to be included in the Dec. 5 agenda.

“If you are not on the schedule to speak, you will not be given time to speak,” Leslie said.

The town isn’t expecting to have any additional budget deliberation meetings at this point as it doesn’t anticipate any more will be needed.

“Hopefully, everything goes through,” Leslie said. “There have been some great discussions. Definitely, I’m thinking the status of the economy comes to mind when all things have been discussed. So it will be interesting to see what direction council goes.”

The proposed budget is available on the town’s website.

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angela.brown@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @battlefordsnow