WESTLOCK — Wanting more time to go over what was presented and get some questions answered, Westlock County councillors passed a motion at their Oct. 24 meeting to defer the draft 2024 capital budget to their next meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 14.
Councillors voted 5-2 on the motion by Coun. Stuart Fox-Robinson to hold off on approving the 2024 capital budget. Councillors Isaac Skuban and Jared Stitsen voted in opposition.
Fox-Robinson asked Peggy Hardinge, general manager of finance, if council had previously seen the document presented to them at the Oct. 24 meeting.
Hardinge said the draft 2024 capital budget had been presented to council at the Oct. 17 committee of the whole meeting. However, some questions about the budget from members of council had trickled in over the past few days, and as such, the draft budget had been expanded to answer those questions.
With that in mind, Fox-Robinson put forward the motion to defer a decision on the budget. He also requested a recorded vote.
“We were just presented with this information and then were asked to make a $2 million decision," he said, referring to the total value of the proposed capital projects within the budget. “I don’t think that’s appropriate."
Skuban, who voted against the motion, said he was in favour of deferring the budget if Fox-Robinson had questions he needed answered, but council had already seen much of this information.
As noted above, the proposed 2024 capital budget encompassed $2.029 million for a total of 11 projects.
These included a new building engineering and conceptual plan for the administration building, which was projected to cost $100,000; an outhouse replacement at Long Island Lake and Rainbow Park ($85,000); upgrades to the Tawatinaw Valley ski chalet ($25,000); a flex wing mower replacement ($35,000); a new enforcement vehicle ($94,000); the replacement of a new fire tender for Jarvie ($340,000) and a light vehicle ($110,000); a unit loader replacement ($484,000) and various hamlet improvements ($125,000); and two road rehabilitation projects estimated at $200,000 and $431,000.
These projects, if all approved as part of the budget, would be funded by withdrawing $554,000 from capital reserves, another $631,000 in grants specifically for the road projects, $160,000 from the sale of old equipment, and two debentures of $320,000 for the Jarvie fire tender and $364,000 for the unit loader.
Hardinge then presented to council a summary of how the county’s reserves would be affected, noting that this is normally done during budget deliberations.
We changed the process a little bit this year and are bringing forward some projected numbers for you,” she said.
Hardinge said a total of $219,000 would be drawn from the equipment reserve but $282,760 would be put back in, leaving $5.34 million in that reserve at the end of 2024.
The building reserve would be drawn down by $125,000 but the county would put $34,155 in, leaving $44,165 at the end of the year.
The road reserve would be drawn down by a total of $251,000, but the county would allocate $35,000 to that reserve, leaving $717,217.
Finally, the municipal reserve would be drawn down by $85,000, leaving $237,228 at the end of the year.
In terms of how the county’s debt would be affected, Hardinge said they would be adding $364,000 for the loader and $320,000 for the fire tender, bringing the county’s total proposed debt as of Dec. 31, 2024, to $8.4 million.
“Our projected debt limit at the end of 2024 is $24.2 million, so we’re well within our borrowing limits,” she said.
Incidentally, Hardinge said that in 2024, the county will be retiring a shop loan and chalet loan taken out in the last 20 years. Those two loans totalled $2.5 million.
While the county was proposing to borrow money for the loader and fire tender, it should be noted that chief administrative officer Tony Kulbisky recommended that council delay funding the purchase of the Jarvie fire tender and light vehicle.
Instead, he recommended that council review its fire services policy again and decide what level of financial support the county is willing to give individual departments.
Hardinge also pointed out that council could choose to fund the loader and/or fire truck from the county’s equipment reserve instead of debentures.
In addition to Fox-Robinson's concern about not having time to review the document, reeve Christine Wiese also questioned why the capital budget was relying on an old projected cost for the new enforcement vehicle instead of getting a new quote.
