BARRHEAD - Town of Barrhead councillors unanimously approved the municipality's 2023 interim operating budget during their Dec. 13 meeting and several other budgets of jointly-operated town and county facilities.
Chief administrative officer Edward LeBlanc called the approval of the 2023 interim operating budget with estimated expenditures of $3.5 million, a “housekeeping item” as the municipality needs the funds to bridge the gap until councillors approve the actual 2023 operating and capital budgets at the Jan. 10 council meeting.
Expenditures in the interim operating budget include funds that will allow for the continuation of general community public work services along with aquatic centre debenture payment and the municipality's required contribution of the provincial school requisition.
The school requisition are education taxes that the province requires the municipality to collect on their behalf. Ideally, it is a flow-through. However, in recent years municipalities have been forced to absorb losses on school tax they have been unable to collect.
No capital expenditures will be allowed without prior council approval.
Expedited capital purchases
Later in the meeting, councillors approved a list of expenditures totalling $953,500 administration recommends the municipality purchase before finalizing the 2023 capital budget. Items on the list include a new Barrhead Regional Fire Services command unit at $125,000, a new half-tonne pickup at $57,000, a new mower at $31,500 and a new loader for the Barrhead Regional Landfill pegged at $660,000.
It is worth mentioning that the new BRFS command unit and the loader are expenditures shared equally with the county.
Administration also suggested expediting the purchase of a $20,000 motor control centre (MCC) pump control panel that is required to keep the town's main lift station running efficiently and to commission a detailed design plan for 49A Street estimated at $60,000. In the public agenda package, administration notes the plan will take considerable time to complete and is needed before the tendering process can proceed. After council reviews the plan, if they decide to proceed with the project, construction would not begin until 2024.
Administration suggested expediting the purchases of the vehicles, in particular, due to the need to start the tendering process due to the long wait for final delivery due to supply chain and demand issues.
Barrhead Regional Landfill
Councillors also approved the landfill's 2023 operating and capital budgets along with the three-year and 10-year capital plans.
The Barrhead Regional Landfill is a joint Barrhead municipality-operated facility, with the town being the unit of authority.
The 2023 operational budget is pegged at $280,880 and includes two equal $84,000 contributions from the town and county. Other revenue sources include tipping fees projected at $104,000 and recycling revenue projected at $6,800.
Barrhead and District Twinning
Councillors also approved the 2023 twinning committee operational budget of $7,800, split equally between the Barrhead municipalities. The twinning committee sponsors and hosts events promoting the connection with Barrhead's sister communities of Tokoro, Japan; Drouin, Australia and Chapala, Mexico.
Johnson Industrial Airport
Council then approved the 2023 airport operational and capital budgets.
On the operation side, the airport's budget has been set at $45,095, with two equal contributions of $17,990. The remainder of the budget will come from lease revenue from agricultural lands at $3,075 and other user fees, such as hangar rentals and tie-down fees at $7,840. No capital expenditures are expected for 2023.
Barrhead Regional Fire Services (BRFS)
Councillors concluded by approving the 2023 operational and capital budgets for BRFS and the Emergency Response Centre (fire hall). They also approved their respective three-year and 10-year capital plans.
The BRFS 2023 operational budget is $963,950. The 2023 BRFS capital budget is 145,000.
For the Emergency Response Centre, on the operating side, the budget is pegged at $52,820, while the capital budget is set at $11,900.
Mayor Dave McKenzie noted although the entire process of approving the budgets took less than 10 minutes, their individual committees, which included representatives from town and county councils, extensively debated their budgets.
