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. No increase in taxes unless assessments go up

Rimbey council is looking at a good news budget this year and plans to hold the line on taxes, provided the assessments increase.

By Treena Mielke

The Town of Rimbey is looking at a good news budget this year and plans to hold the line on taxes, provided the assessments don’t show an increase.

Rimbey CAO Lori Hillis said there would be no tax increase unless assessments go up which won’t be determined until February.

“Our budget is pretty much the same as last year,” she said.

Hillis explained the town’s expenditures run about $6 million annually. This includes salaries and benefits, ($1.8 million), council salaries and benefits ($112,000), contracted services ($578,000), goods and utilities, ($1.6 million), local requisitions ($430,000), provincial requisitions ($892,00) and interest and debt repayments ($462,000).

New debt repayments are $103,000 and reserve transfers have been budgeted at $37,000.

Revenue for the town for 2017 is budgeted to be $3.6 million. Sources of revenue include user fees and sale of goods ($1.655 million), government transfers, ($1.12 million), rentals, ($95,000), licenses and fines ($70,500), frontage ($107,500), penalties ($60,400) interest ($24,000), franchise ($454,900).

“With the revenue coming in and the expenses generated, we need to bring in $2.4 million from taxes,” she said. “And we should be able to do that this year without raising the mill rate, if the assessment remains the same.

Mayor Rick Pankiw said council worked hard to keep the budget on line with no increases.

“There was also a lot of hard work by Lori and her team to put it all together,” he said.

Last year the town’s mill rate went up 1.5 per cent.

Pankiw noted that the public needs to be aware that school taxes, which also appear on their tax bills, may increase, but that has no bearing on the town’s tax bill.