Photo by Curtis Galbraith.

By Curtis Galbraith

City Hall

Tax increase and reallocation being used to cover shortfall in city budget caused by no stormwater utility

Apr 23, 2024 | 6:00 AM

City council has approved a combination of things, including a tax increase, to cover a shortfall in the budget caused by not going ahead with a stormwater utility in Grande Prairie.

Continuing to fund stormwater drainage through taxation rather than having it as a separate utility charge meant to city had to find $3,073,823.00.

Of that, $873,823.00 is coming by raising the tax hike to 3.97 per cent from the 3.28 per cent approved at budget talks last fall.

Mayor Jackie Clayton says council heard that this is what the community wanted.

“Council had numerous public discussion and debate about a stormwater utility model and continued down that path.”

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“When they did a more thorough consultation with the community, (the) community indicated they weren’t interested in a stormwater utility model and at those discussions indicated that that would have an impact on taxes.”

Clayton says council knows times are tough right now

“We know that people are under stress. We recognize that it costs more for people to simply live every day. Rents are going up. Utilities are going up. Groceries and gas goes up and so, council works very hard to keep taxes as minimal as possible.”

The other $2.2 million includes; $1 million from the Financial Stabilization Reserve that was not needed to build the fire break south of the city, $597,000 from the operating surplus for 2023, $417,500 from the sports dome not becoming operational in 2024, and $185,500 from council’s Strategic Initiatives Fund.

Clayton says the city has what she calls “limited revenue streams.”

“We do not have linear assessment growth. We do not have machine and equipment revenue. We pay (a) significant amount of money towards public safety and so, unlike other municipalities, we are limited in our revenue streams.”

A motion to remove the last item and have that other $1 million also covered by property taxes made by Councillor Dylan Bressey was defeated on a 5-4 vote.

Besides Bressey, Councillors Mike O’Connor, Kevin O’Toole, and Chris Thiessen also voted in favour of the idea.

Motions to delete the money from the initiatives fund and the surplus from Bressey were also defeated by the same 5-4 vote with the same people voting for and against.

Bressey is worried using reserve funds now will mean higher tax increases in future years.