Town council and administration was hard at work Monday and Tuesday deliberating the draft 2020/21 budget.
The draft will be presented, and voted on, at regular council on December 9.
Mayor Jeff Genung said the group found a “consensus” and he expects a 7-0 vote in favour of approval.
His optimism isn’t without trepidation, though. Genung said this budget was one of the most difficult budgets he’s had to sit through.
“It was a tough budget (with) the economic climate of the province and our community,” he said.
“You know it’s tough to look at finances and still move ahead with projects we want to do and try and be sensitive to people’s wallets.” Genung said the draft budget will carry a “heavily weighted” infrastructure program for the town of Cochrane that will cost more than $110 million over the next decade, while other capital plans will cost $140 million over the same time period.
“Ten years is a large pill to swallow but it is necessary,” he said. He explained that council has accelerated the transportation plan from what it was in the past, but it comes with implications for finances.
He admits that these transportation plans could have been accelerated sooner by previous councils, but the wisdom of past councils have left the current council in a position to be able to finance this program.
“There’s a backlog of infrastructure programs that need to be addressed,” he said. He points to the upgrades to Centre Avenue, the construction of the new RCMP detachment in Heartland, the interchange on Highway 1A and Highway 22 and the interchange extension to Sunset Ridge.
Genung expects that taxes on residents in an average residential home will likely go up by 1.93 per cent or about $3.60 a month. He says the amount will potentially go up or down as administration still has to confirm the numbers before presenting them to council.
“No increase is ever a good one, but I think we would hear from people on the difference of a penny,” Genung said.
“Council just feels that this is not a time where we can actually see a zero (per cent increase). A zero would be seen as a service cut,” he said.
“We want to maintain the level of service that Cochrane is used to. We don’t want to affect that.”
Canadian municipalities typically see an increase in their property tax rate each year. For example, Calgary City Council is planning a 3.03 per cent tax increase that will cost the average home an additional $5.10 per month. Calgary council will vote on their proposed budget in late November.
“I’m looking forward to having it voted on on the 9th and putting the budget behind us and carry on with the work,” Genung said.
