WESTLOCK – For a second-straight year Town of Westlock ratepayers won’t face a property tax increase, although monthly utility bills will increase by $1.23, but service levels will remain status quo.
At their Dec. 14 meeting, councillors unanimously passed the municipality’s 2021 operating budget, stating in no uncertain terms that due to COVID-19 and its devastating impact on the local economy, a tax increase was a non-starter. CAO Simone Wiley says the town’s capital budget will be in front of council in early 2021.
“The community needs zero per cent this year, there is no option,” said Coun. Murtaza Jamaly.
“There’s a balance that needs to exist in every budget between the needs of the people who live in our community today and ensuring the future of our community remains solid. Zero per cent is definitely a reflection of the needs of the people here today. And I hope that we are positioning our community to be as we say, ‘ready for the future’ and ensuring that we come out of this pandemic in a position that makes us ready for success.”
To balance the $17,991,180.12 budget, the municipality will use $30,000 from last year’s surplus, and transfer $132,345 less to reserves “because of the extraordinary circumstances of COVID-19 and the economic downturn in the energy industry that has impacted our residents and local businesses,” reads the budget RFD in part.
The town plans for reserve transfers to go back to 2020 levels ($122,000) by 2024.
“This is the most important document council produces annually and it’s been a lot of work,” said mayor Ralph Leriger, who along with the rest of council praised administration for their work on the budget.
“This was a great piece of work and it resembles what we’ve been doing for the last three or four years now so I’m proud of it. Councils don’t raise taxes, or do zero per cent on a whim. It happens as a result of something.”
Added Coun. Randy Wold: “Zero per cent is what’s required right now. We don’t know where we’re going from here. COVID has impacted so many peoples’ lives and we don’t want to put any unnecessary burdens on our citizens.”
Councillor wages have been frozen, while non-unionized staff will see 1.25 per cent wage increase, while unionized employees get a 1.75 per cent increase as per the four-year contract signed in 2019. The town is also estimating that energy costs will increase by $33,000.
For residents there’ll be a $1 increase to storm sewer utility charge — from $2 to $3 — effective Jan. 1 in order to bring that utility closer to paying for itself, states the RFD.
“We’ve been fighting storm sewer here since the flood of 2016 and trying to mitigate that from happening again,” Wold noted. “It’s very costly to do so. And in order to do it the users will have to pay a little bit more, but we’re talking a $1 a month.”
Residents will also face additional $.23 monthly increase to the Westlock Regional Waste Management Commission Reserve Transfer, which is also effective Jan. 1.
Both add up to an additional $14.74 yearly as all other utility charges remain status quo. Both fee changes are included as part of the updated consolidated fees and rate bylaw council passed 7-0 that same night.
The town will also be re-instituting a charge on residents who annually exceed $75 of waste taken to the landfill per year. The charge, which is due to offset the increased costs of waste tippage that will be increasing Jan. 1, will be any amount exceeding the $75 annual maximum regardless of the type of waste.
Admin says most residents will not be affected by this new rate as based on the average charge at the landfill being $6 per tip, it is possible for a user to take up to 80 kg of garbage out once per month without being impacted.
“This will still allow them to make a lot of trips out there. I think what we’re after are the bigger things that get hauled out that amount to a lot of cost for the entire user base. Getting rid of garbage isn’t free … there’s a cost,” said Coun. Curtis Snell.
Added Leriger: “We’ve talked about this for a number of years trying to find a fair and equitable way to do it. It really affects very few users.”
By department
Expenses for 2021 basically mirror the 2020 budget — recreation and culture stands at No. 1 consuming roughly $3.6 million of the pie, while utilities is second at just under $3.5 million and general municipal comes in around $3.17 million.
Slots four through nine are operations/transportation, $2.2 million; council/administration, $1.8 million; protective services, $1.37 million; planning and development, $1.29 million; community wellness, $861,000; and the airport, at $55K.
“Recreation has seen massive losses in revenue this year and are predicting massive losses in revenue next year. It has taken some creative budgeting from someone who’s been in the role for a very short amount of time so I applaud Gerry (Murphy) and the recreation department for preparing a budget that is balanced,” said Jamaly.
Added Coun. John Shoemaker: “COVID-19 has really made budgeting more guesstimating. Overall though despite COVID-19 I felt the department heads did a great job of reviewing their line items and bringing forth a realistic budget we can all get behind.”
George Blais, TownandCountryToday.com
