Minnedosa council approves budget
- Details
- Published on Thursday, May 11, 2017
Eoin Devereux
The Neepawa Banner
The Town of Minnedosa has finalized its financial plan for the upcoming year. Council gave second and third reading to the document, during their monthly meeting on Tuesday, May 9.
The annual operating budget is $5,033,807.95, an increase of $265,172.10 from 2016.
The budget includes funding set aside for several major local improvements, including a combined $466,000 budgeted for paving projects along 6th Ave. N.W. and 4th Street S.W., $440,000 has also been allocated for upgrades to the sewer lagoon ($170,000 for phase one and $270,000 for phase two). Other notable budget expenditure for this year include $200,000 for the replacement of a loader, $150,000 for the expansion of the fire hall, $130,000 towards the community’s new primary care clinic and $100,000 for arena repairs.
Smaller projects receiving attention include demolition of the white display building at the former fairgrounds ($25,000), upgrades to the town’s emergency alert system ($20,000) and repairs to the Minnedosa Community Conference Centre ($15,000).
One of the most notable increases in expenditures can be found in the allowance for tax assets, which rises from $15,949 to $264,023.35. The reason for the majority of the increase is a required repayment to Husky Oil Ltd., after a property tax reassessment to its ethanol plant indicated that Husky had overpaid on its taxes. The municipality owed Husky Oil Ltd. about $700,000, backdated to 2013 with interest. A payment of $175,000 will be made through the tax assets. That’s the second of four payments that will be made to Husky.
In order to help cover the budget, council decided to transfer $604,000 from an array of reserves. Mayor Ray Orr said they made this decision because it was very important for council to do the best they could to keep the town moving forward, while also keeping the cost to the average ratepayers under control. For the average property owner the year over year increase to taxes will be around 1.9 per cent.
