Photo Courtesy EverythingGP Staff

By Tanner Smith

Economy

City Council approves of 1.71 tax budget increase for 2023

Nov 28, 2022 | 6:19 PM

Grande Prairie City Council unanimously approved of a 2023 tax budget increase of 1.71 per cent.

The increase is one of the lowest increases in the province and almost half the size of the projected three per cent increase.

Mayor Jackie Clayton said she’s very proud of council and administration for the work they did to reach that number, as they know inflation is chipping away at Albertans everywhere.

“Conversations between administrations and council and making some significant decisions, through a combination of a slight increase as well using some reserves, council ended up on a 1.71 per cent increase, we are expecting a report to come back from administration in January to actually show comparables across Alberta, but we are hearing from other municipalities that this is one of the lowest percentages of increases that we’ve seen to date.”

Clayton says a significant portion of the 2023 budget was put towards roads after hearing the need from residents but they will be doing less “clustered work” this year to reduce “construction fatigue”.

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“Construction season is very compact in a northern community and so we see it over a short number of weeks in our region, we know it’s troublesome for people, however with roads being the number one identified priority, there needs to be a fine balance.”

The road budget for 2023 sits at $19 million, and hopefully limits traffic stalls due to construction, helping residents get around the city easier.

Clayton adds that any increase during a time of inflation is hard and as a council they don’t take any increase lightly, but it “would equate to a quite insignificant amount, per household”.

“In particular there was a negotiated, through collective bargaining agreement of almost a million dollar raises to RCMP, which signifies almost a one per cent increase on its own, so to be at 1.71 considering we’re still adding new amenities, increasing and enhancing services across the community, I think that it’s work that were proud of.”

Other highlights from yesterday’s (Monday, November 28,) City Council meeting were regarding the 2024 to 2026 budget, which in principle, is approved, but will be revisited when it’s closer to coming into effect.