After a two-week delay, the Town of Athabasca’s council has passed their operating and capital budget during their April 18 meeting.
Coun. Tanu Evans made the motion to approve the 2017 operating budget, which is a balanced budget of $8.2 million, and requested a recorded vote.
Coun. Tim Verhaeghe said before the vote he would not be able to support the budget.
“It’s nice to see that for the most part the bottom line is that taxes aren’t going to go up to our residents because of the added assessment we have in town,” he said. “One thing however that concerns me personally is raising water and sewer.”
Verhaeghe was referring to the decision to increase water and sewer costs seven and five per cent respectively in order to fully recover costs of providing the service.
The final budget also includes a three per cent increase in property taxes, the burden of which administration says would not be passed on to tax payers due to increased property assessments in town.
The motion was passed 5-1 with Verhaeghe opposing it.
Town Chief Administrative Officer Doug Topinka then presented the 2017 capital budget for council approval.
Evans asked for clarification on an asterisk beside the budget line item “programing material” of $37,000, which refers to the sports simulator the Athabasca Regional Multiplex Society (ARMS) may be purchasing with grant money.
“I’m still hesitant in approving (the budget) based off of that programming materials. I’m still dead set against that, especially since I haven’t seen a business plan from the Multiplex Society on the utilization, potential revenue,” he said.
Topinka confirmed the item would come back to council for approval before being paid out.
Mayor Roger Morrill asked for clarification on the budget line item “Union hotel sidewalk project” for $250,000, that it would come back to council after more information is gathered from engineers before anything is done.
Coun. Shelly Gurba made a motion to pass the budget as presented, and Evans again requested a recorded vote. The 2017 capital budget passed unanimously.
In a later interview, town financial director Donna Anderson said the utility increase for cost recovery in the operating budget would only equate to about a $15 increase per household based on average consumption. The 12 per cent utility increase would increase the town’s revenue by just over $80,000, contributing to a revenue sum of $1.7 million from water and sewer services.
“The dollars aren’t as big, so the percentages seem higher,” Anderson said.
Anderson said probably the biggest item in the town’s 2017 capital budget plan is the school site servicing, a total of $375,000 put towards the new school and equally matched by Athabasca County.
“The school site servicing is good, the school is under construction. It’s going to be a fantastic addition to the community,” she said.
The 49th Street sewer project will also continue this year with a $1 million contribution.
Some smaller line items include replacement of the Riverfront stage boardwalk, outhouses for the Multiplex ball diamonds and resurfacing of the Cornwall tennis/basketball court.
Anderson said administration has been resolving outstanding grants for capital projects and had enough deferred revenue in 2016 to cover the capital budget.
She added there is still deferred revenue from a grant worth $2.5 million, which will almost completely cover the 2017 capital budget of $2.73 million.
“Capital for the last two years and this year will be pretty much entirely funded out of grant funding,” she said.
