Bonnyville budget passes with 2% tax increase, holds the line of outside requests

The interim operational and capital budget for 2023 has passed in Bonnyville, which forecasts a two per cent tax increase for homeowners, as well as holding the line on asks from community groups.

The document passed at Tuesday night’s Bonnyville town council meeting, entailing a $22.7 million operational budget and a $16.4 million capital budget.

Along with a two per cent municipal tax increase, the budget includes a two per cent utility and garbage fee increase, rate increases for landfill and transfer station rates, and a transfer from the general operating reserve of $320,835 to balance the budget. 

“We’ve gone through three drafts. Each time you start with, what is it if we’re all in, and all the asks and all the nice things we could have, what is that tax increase look like? Then we start to trim it down and we start to have those conversations. What really are our priorities, what aligns with budget?” said mayor Elisa Brosseau. 

“Through those discussions and the open house and hearing from the public, we had a workshop last week and we got together and went through it with a fine tooth comb.” 

By holding the line on increased asks from community groups, it means that groups like the Bonnyville Friendship Centre, Bonnyville & District Chamber of Commerce, Bonnyville Health Foundation, Ronald McDonald House Charities Golf Tournament, Bonnyville Primary Care Network, Bonnyville & District SPCA, and the Bonnyville Historical Society all with have to make due with similar funding levels to previous years. 

“The asks was almost double what we’ve had in the past, and just like everybody else, and through COVID and the pandemic, we are also struggling,” said Brosseau.

“We have to be responsible to our taxpayers. Ultimately we want organizations to succeed and be successful in the town, but there wasn’t any room in the budget to give the entire ask. We didn’t give less than what they had in the past, but they didn’t get the ask they had been looking for.”

This is only an interim budget. The final budget will be decided in the spring after a presentation is made from assessors on property values.

After that, the final budget is passed, and the tax rate and mill rate is set.