The Town of Bonnyville has passed its 2016 Budget, with a two percent increase overall. Mayor of Bonnyville, Gene Sobolewski says Town Council kept property taxes in mind and tried to hold as small of an increase to the budget as possible. To make up for this, there will be some services that need to be cut-back to hold the two percent increase.

“Council passed the Budget, but there’s still a lot of unknowns,” the Mayor explains that the Budget is used in the intern until other factors can be determined, “we don’t know what the assessments are going to be, so we can’t finalize the Budget. But at least we have a really good idea as to where we are going and we’re moving forward with it.”

“We went with the option for a two percent increase,” the Mayor explains, “what that means is we’re going to be cutting down on some overlay programs.” The Town has also allocated money to some major capital projects including; having the swimming pool grouted, the completion of 51st Avenue construction,parking lot at splash park, and some road overlays & construction.

Mayor Sobolewski says there will be an Open House Tuesday, December 1st, “now we want to have a public meeting and encourage the public to come out and have a discussion.” It’s a great opportunity to find out from the Mayor and Council what projects the Town will be focusing on in 2016 and what their future plans for the community are; as well as goals Council has for the Town. Residents can use the Open House to express concerns, give feedback, and become more informed.

“Some municipalities adopt a budget, say ‘we deliberated’ and this is it,” Mayor Sobolewski says Bonnyville likes to include the residents in the process, “we go the step further. This is what we;re satisfied with, let’s bring it to the public and see if they’ve got any additional comments or like us to go in a different direction.”

The Open House will be held tomorrow evening at 7:00 pm at Town Hall.