(file photo/battlefordsNOW staff)

By Angela Brown

Budget 2022

City administration now proposing 5.11 per cent tax increase

Dec 9, 2021 | 5:00 AM

Following North Battleford council’s latest deliberation meeting on Wednesday, administration is now proposing a 5.11 per cent tax increase for the 2022 budget.

That amount would represent a 3.77 per cent increase for RCMP contract adjustments and a 1.34 per cent increase for operations costs.

“The adjustment is only a recommendation tonight,” City Manager Randy Patrick said.

It was also noted that about $800,000 in total would need to be taken from reserves for sidewalk repairs and to replace the lights on the North Battleford water tower. Council is also hopeful a donor may step forward to help with the water tower lights project to defray the cost.

Administration originally proposed a 7.48 per cent tax increase Nov. 12. That number was reduced to a 6.66 per cent increase at the Nov. 18 meeting, to the 5.11 per cent increase now recommended, as council members continued to look to find savings.

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For utilities, administration is proposing a three per cent rate increase, though Mayor David Gillan was concerned that may not be enough for utilities’ needs.

It was noted a special council meeting is planned for Dec. 20 to discuss a borrowing bylaw that is proposed related to the large-scale Sanitary Sewer Upgrade Project currently underway.

Gillan asked administration to bring a report to the next council meeting showing what the financial impact from a potential 5.5 per cent increase to both water and sewer would look like.

Administration will bring a report back to council on the matter.

Coun. Greg Lightfoot asked to see some numbers to compare the impact from a three per cent utilities increase, to a 4.5 per cent or a 5.5 per cent increase.

“It’s just to see what the numbers are going to be. So we can say: OK, anywhere in between those three areas might be something we want to pick,” he said.

Both Gillan and Lightfoot spoke about rising inflation as ongoing concerns as well.

Coun. Len Taylor said generally at this point he supports only what administration currently has on the table, but he is open for discussion on additional needs. He said he appreciates that the city will have “a couple of challenging years” ahead, and said he doesn’t mind pushing a couple items forward on the utilities side for the moment, with that in mind.

Near the end of the meeting, Lightfoot took the opportunity to note the mill rates will not be set until April or May 2022, so the city can still make some further adjustments to the taxation rate around that time as an option.

Council’s next regular meeting is Monday, Dec. 13 when members are expected to vote on proposed increases for taxes and utilities for the 2022 budget.

Coun. Kelli Hawtin was not present at Wednesday’s meeting.

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Angela.Brown@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @battlefordsnow