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By Jordan Parker

Taxes set at two per cent, with conditions.

Nov 17, 2017 | 2:17 PM

Grande Prairie city council has decided on a two percent tax hike for 2018.

Councillor Kevin O’Toole tabled a motion to go to a two percent increase, and take $1 million from the municipal reserves to fund services at a higher level.

In a sometimes-contentious three days of debates and deliberations, the motion was passed midday on Friday.

“I think these couple of days of budget deliberations went as well as can be expected. The council members were at a high-level thinking about what we want to accomplish over a four-year term,” said Mayor Bill Given.

“(Council) addressed approving phase three of the downtown program and providing resources around communication.”

They also added a pilot project to add windrows to snow clearing. This is a $350,000 project that would start Dec. 1. The money would come from reserve funds.

Council also discussed parks & recreation, $5.8 million for the Eastlink Centre and decided not to fund Evergreen Park to the tune of $200,000.

They looked at Priority-Based Budgeting.

“We are in the middle of implementing that, and it will set the stage for what we do with structural change … It can have a significant impact on tax rates,” he said.

Given believes councilors were thinking long-term rather than yearly and welcomed this approach.

“Whenever we approach decisions, we need to do so with a long-term lens. They were all trying to consider the impact of the decisions we make today,” he said.

He said drawing from reserves isn’t sustainable long-term but can work this year. He advocated early on for the proposed 4.2 percent increase.

Overall, Given was happy with discussions.

“We had passionate and heated discussions. Council members were advocating for closely held positions… We managed to do that very respectfully,” he said.

“When we see a compromise condition which was developed today, there was a healthy result of dialogue.”

Because the council picked a tax rate that wasn’t presented as an option, the administration must go tweak and put out a budget aligned with what council chose.

It will be approved at a December council meeting. 

by Jordan Parker