Although nothing’s been finalized with Rimbey’s municipal operating budget, the future is looking bright.
“Financially we’re in good shape,” said town CAO Tony Goode.
“The surplus is quite large,” added Mayor Sheldon Ibbotson.
The proposed budget wasn’t able to be finalized because the town hasn’t yet received its property assessments or the school requisitions.
The only requisition received by press time was from the Rimoka Housing Foundation, which increased this year by $262, to $32,502. “Rimoka’s requisition is to provide seniors with housing in the county, the Town of Ponoka and the Town of Rimbey,” said Goode.
Also affecting Rimbey’s budget is the provincial budget, which won’t be released until March.
Each year the province mandates what municipalities have to collect from the schools, which is then turned over to the province in installments.
According to Ibbotson, last year the amount province demanded increased by 10.4 per cent, which increased the town’s municipal tax rate by 2.5 per cent. This concerns Ibbotson for the upcoming year.
“I heard them (the minister of finance) say they wouldn’t do that again, but they said a lot of things.”
Without the budget finalized the town can only estimate what property taxes will look like. “We anticipate any tax increase will not exceed 1.5 per cent,” said Ibbotson.
However, Ibbotson believes the operating budget will be similar to last year’s. The rate of inflation is less than one per cent and wage inflation is 3.4 per cent.
The town is looking at a current debt of approximately $4 million, which Goode and Ibbotson expect to shrink to $3.7 million by the end of the year.
At the end of last year the town had reserve funds totaling $1.6 million. “We’re going to be taking some of that reserve fund for capital works,” said Goode.
They expect to leave $1.5 million in the reserve fund. “That’s our best guesstimate,” said Goode, since capital tenders can be higher or lower than expected.
The projected operating revenue for 2013 is $5,647,174, with the projected expenses of $4,789,711.
From that surplus the town will make their payments of $369,201, leaving a total surplus of $488,262.
“That amount will be put into reserves for future expenditures,” said Goode. He and Ibbotson want Rimbey to become more self-reliant in case there isn’t as much government money available.
“There’s lots of speculation on whether those (government grants) are going to be phased out or downsized because of the government’s financial situation,” Goode added.
Each municipality is allowed a debt limit of 1.5 times its income. Rimbey sits at 55 per cent of that limit; the provincial average is 20 per cent. However, Rimbey isn’t the only municipality sitting high. Ibbotson says both Calgary and Wetaskiwin are too. “As a goal we want to reduce our debt.”
It was because of the lagoon, the pool and the reservoir that Rimbey’s debt load increased to 55 per cent. “After this year we’ll be below 50 per cent,” said Goode.
Also affecting the budget are requests from organizations such as the FCSS, the library, the Rimbey Historical Society and the Beatty House. The town is also in the process of setting up regional bylaw enforcement system with six summer villages.
Before the budget is approved there will be a public budget presentation, either at the end of February or early in March. Council will the adopt the budget and calculate the tax rate bylaw before summer.