BOYLE – Property owners in the Village of Boyle are going to be seeing a couple dollars extra on their tax notice this year, as municipality’s tax rate is jumping by two per cent as part of the 2023 operating budget.
At their April 19 meeting, councillors voted 5-0 to adopt the 2023 operating budget, as well as the capital budget after it was recommended to council by the budget committee.
“I like the approach, and I like the responsibility, and I like the fact that you guys (administration) brought us projects that are responsible and necessary,” said mayor Colin Derko.
If a ratepayer’s property was assessed at $100,000, then the mill rate increase will add $19.81 onto their tax bill in 2023. Due to assessment going up for commercial and industrial properties, council felt that a further hike to their tax rate would be too much of an increase all at once.
“From 2018 up to this year, we’ve kept our municipal taxes level,” said Derko in an April 24 interview. “This council has been adamant on trying to keep things affordable, and not to be taxing people when they’re getting it from every direction as it is. We’re trying to be responsible, and stretch our money as far as we can make it go.”
Despite the tax hike, revenue from residential taxes has decreased 22.61 per cent, from $797,110, to a projected $616,868, in 2023 while tax revenue from commercial properties has also fallen 17.69 per cent, down to the projected $239,125, instead of the $290,531 from the year before. Revenue from industrial properties has also decreased 20.05 per cent, down from the $72,489 to $57,952.
During the meeting, Derko said that “in essence, we’re working with last year, the two per cent increase will lead to a decrease in the total amount, due to our assessments.”
CAO Warren Griffin agreed, saying that the hike was really an attempt to “plug the leak.”
To present a balanced budget this year, administration took $233,000 out of the unrestricted reserves. There is no surplus expected in 2023 as both revenue and expenses are forecast evenly at $6,222,076, with the village bringing in an expected $1,354,328 in tax revenue. The budget also includes just over $1,586,628 in capital expenditure for 2023, including $199,000 for the 1st Avenue pavement lift, $445,000 for a genset back up and fire pump, and $200,000 for a regulating, metering, odorizing (RMO) on the outskirts of town. The remaining $700,000 will be split between 20 other projects, which includes IT upgrades for administration, two used trucks, and new fencing for Elm Park.
Alongside the five-year operating budget was the capital budget for 2023-2027, which has earmarked just over $6.5 million in capital spending. Council agreed that the projects picked out by administration were the important ones.
“I like the approach, and I like the responsibility, and I like the fact that you guys (administration) brought us projects that are responsible and necessary,” said Derko. “I talk budgets with other councillors, and you’ll hear ‘I don’t know what they’re thinking, we don’t need this stuff,’ but the stuff you guys brought us, we had to get rid of needed projects just because of a lack of funds.”
Capital projects
“We asked public works to bring us the full gamut of everything that needed to get done, and then we asked them to tell us what was critical,” said Derko in the interview. “We basically funnelled it down to the stuff that had to get done, and then the stuff that financially made sense to get done this year.”
Capital projects are going to be funded through a combination of grants from the provincial and federal governments, transfers from reserves, and the money set aside in the operating budget.
The largest capital project on the books for the upcoming year is going to be related to water, with the town replacing the genset backup and fire pump, which costs $445,000. Another $60,000 will go towards replacing a pump and a further $45,000 will go towards assessing and upgrading hydrants, as well as equipment and maintenance. The village will use $30,000 of the money transferred from reserves, as well as a further $335,475 from provincial grants, and $184,525 from the operating budget.
Another $225,000 will be put into projects to improve the villages gas infrastructure; alongside the RMO renewal, $15,000 is going into alley repairs, as well as $10,000 for GIS equipment. All $225,000 will come from the operating budget.
First Avenue will also be receiving some love in the upcoming year; council has already opened submissions for the project, and companies will need to submit their proposals before 2:00 p.m. May 26. The $199,000 for the project comes from a combination of three places: federal grants will contribute $57,907, provincial grants will add another $130,380, and the final $10,713 will come from the money in the operating budget.
