First draft of Bonnyville Budget 2023 presented, Open House set for Dec. 6

Line item remains for new Aquatic Centre although talks have stalled.

Bonnyville town councillors got their first glimpses of the draft budget for the 2023 year, while setting the date that residents can ask questions

At Tuesday’s regular council meeting, a motion was passed to present the 2023 Budget Open House on Tuesday, Dec. 6. 

Per the Municipal Government Act, council pass an interim budget before December 31, 2022, but can make alterations in the following months before it is finalized with the property tax bylaw.

“We’re kicking off the process. And first step is to show us a budget that has everything in it all our needs, and wants and desires,” said Mayor Elisa Brosseau on The Morning After. 

“What does that look like? What kind of deficit are we looking at? And then from there, we start to whittle down, what can we live without? Maybe we have to move things around to maybe defer a couple projects, so that we can balance our budget for December 31.” 

From 2022 until this year, expenses have increased a little over $623,000, including increased funding requests from town organizations, tech costs, fresh totals from this past year’s salary and benefits negotiations, fuel costs, and others.

The increase to the RCMP Cost of Living Allowance (COLA), plus an anticipated full compliment of members, represents an increase of roughly $440,000 alone.

The initial deficit in the first draft is $721,034, which will be pared down as more scrutiny goes into the next draft. 

Capital budget vision

Council held Strategic Priority meetings in early October in anticipation of the budget, placing recreation and wellness and economic development as their top two priorities. 

Projects discussed included a new aquatics centre, enhancing recreation activities along Jesse Lake, plus finishing a Recreation Master Plan. Downtown revitalization and a Town rebrand was also discussed. 

Mayor Brosseau was asked about the status of a new pool on Wednesday, saying the process has been frustrating. One million dollars is set aside in a new pool reserve transfer every year for the next several. 

“It’s still in our budget, we still have money allocated to a new pool. We still have the feasibility study and everything that was done in the last couple of years. And so the town is still has it on the books, and we’ll see this year where we’re going to take that. 

“Preferably, we’d like the M.D. to come on board. So those conversations have happened…when you’re working as a region, you have more resources to pool together so it just helps in how big and what we can have. If the town needs to go out on their own, do we look at something that maybe isn’t as big and shiny? What can we afford? What kind of funding is out there? So there’s a whole list of questions out there that need to be answered.” 

Completing trail lighting at Jessie Lake in 2023 instead of 2024 was also mentioned by council at the meeting table.

The property taxes that come from the former ID 349 are earmarked at roughly $6.174 million, but fluctuate every year due to their values.

The second draft will be presented to council at the November 22nd Council meeting.