Last night (December 4), City Council adopted a budget for 2018 and passed accompanying bylaws that will result in a slight increase to property taxes and utility rates.

The operating budget for the upcoming year is $140,162,761 and the capital budget is $53,656,040. Operating costs have increased by 3.93 percent compared to the 2017 budget. As part of the budget, property taxes will increase by 4.08 percent. Councillors also approved a bylaw that will increase the Fortis Franchise Fee by two percent, as well as new water, sewer and waste bylaws that will result in increased utility rates.

The council meeting was brief, with Mayor Peter Brown indicating that council had vetted the budget through multiple days of deliberation prior to the meeting. Lucy Wiwcharuk, Director of Corporate Services with the City of Airdrie, explained that the Council Budget Committee, comprised of City Council, had met five times over five weeks, spending two days deliberating on the capital budget and two and a half days deliberating on the operating budget.

Municipal budgets must be balanced and municipalities are not allowed to run a deficit. That necessitated the 4.08 percent property tax increase for 2018. Wiwcharuk said when it comes to increasing property taxes, the City does its best to keep increases gradual and reasonable for residents.

"When we look at what type of increased revenue we will need from taxes and what not, we have an underlying principle that we try to keep things as stable as possible for our residents so they don't have to see one year where you have a very significant hike in a tax rate increase."

Wiwcharuk explained one percent of the tax increase will go directly towards replenishing the City's tax stabilization fund, a reserve fund that assists in the cost of future services related to the library, police, fire and recreation. The other 3.08 percent was necessary to "close the gap" and balance the budget.

Accompanying the tax increase is an increase to the Fortis Franchise Fee. Council gave three readings to bylaw B-38/2017, which will result in a two percent increase in the franchise fee, raising it from 13 percent to 15 percent. The last time the franchise fee was increased was in 2016, when it increased from 12 percent to 13 percent. The Alberta Utilities Commission caps the franchise fee at 20 percent.

Wiwcharuk said that with the increased tax rate and franchise fees, residents can expect to see a small increase to their tax bills.

"In order to continue to deliver the services to the community, the effect on the taxpayer, and if I roll together the increases that'll come from additional tax revenue plus the addition of a two percent franchise fee, that would equate to $6.82 a month per resident."

Accompanying the budget, Council also passed three bylaws amending utility rates for water, sewer and waste.

"The other big service that a municipality provides is around providing water, sewer and waste collection services as well," said Wiwcharuk, "That's related to our utility rates, and the expected increase on that average bill a month on the utility side is $8.66."

Wiwcharuk said the reason for the utility increase is the rising cost for water and sewer that comes from the City of Calgary, Airdrie's service provider. During the meeting, Councillor Ron Chapman pointed out that Calgary will increase their costs by 7.5 percent. Correspondingly, Airdrie's increase is 7.2 percent. Overall, the cost of water and sewer is expected to increase by $2.7 million in the next year. Meanwhile, increases to rates for waste management will be negligible, increasing from $0.81 to $0.82 per day.

The budget will result in some added resources and services. On the operating side, Airdrie Transit will receive $524,000 for a full year of funding for new services that were launched in September of this year. Six additional RCMP officers have been requested for 2018, including two specialized officers for mental health starting in June. The budget proposal originally included only four new officers. Finally, the Airdrie Public Library grant will increase by $87,300 to $1,881,965, while Airdrie Housing Limited will see an increase of $10,000 to $170,000.

On the capital side, the City is supplying $3 million for detailed designs for the Yankee Valley Grade separation project that will see an underpass built beneath the railroad. As well, $2.4 million will be spent supporting Airdrie Transit through the construction of bus shelters, transit zone improvements and the purchase of several new buses.

 

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