Photo by Curtis Galbraith.

By Curtis Galbraith

City Hall

City council, administration start 2022 budget talks Thursday

Dec 1, 2021 | 3:22 PM

Two days of city budget talks start Thursday.

Council and administration will go over the 2022 budget.

City Manager Horacio Galante says discussions will start with a potential increase for property taxes of 1.55 per cent.

“(This comes) with some alternatives for council to consider to reduce that number to 0.98, so just a little bit below 1 per cent. That will be a matter of conversation during budget deliberations.”

Galante says there are some capital projects currently in the budget that are not critical and could be done over several years.

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He adds there is roughly $50 million currently in the budget for capital projects, including road work. Upgrades for the old bypass are also among the projects on the list.

“We have done significant work over the last couple of years since the transfer from Alberta Transportation to the city so that will continue for the next couple of years and across the city on some residential roads and collectors as well.”

Mayor Jackie Clayton says this will be the new council going over the fourth year of a spending plan approved by the previous council.

“This is approving projects that have already started or have been identified from the previous council as priorities,” she said.

“There is an opportunity for this council to have some impact on this. However, traditionally, it’s assessing and reviewing what the previous council did, making sure we’re going in the right direction, tweaking it slightly.”

Clayton says this council will have a chance to introduce ideas that would change the possible 1.55 per cent tax increase.

Budget talks are scheduled to continue Friday.