Town sees first glimpse at 2025 Budget

Town of Bonnyville residents can listen to the financial outlook for the community on Dec. 3.

The Town’s Budget 2025 Open House will be held then, after council got their preliminary look at the first draft budget last Tuesday.

Three separate drafts will be created for the Budget. So far, administration compiled a budget that includes every financial ask from community stakeholders, and all the possible projects they could fund.

That gets harnessed down dramatically in the second draft of the budget.

“Draft one includes absolutely everything. So all of our wish list, all the things that we’d like to do, we’d like to see happen. It also includes all the presentations and the organizations that came to present to council and their ask. It’s the full gamut of all the asks,” said Mayor Elisa Brosseau on The Morning After. 

“We’d be looking at an operating budget deficit of $2.4 million. Then on the other side, the capital, we’d be looking at a deficit of $14.8 million. So as I mentioned, it’s a clear picture of okay, if we want to do all those things, either we got to increase substantially, or we start to make some cuts.” 

From Sept. 17-19, three special council meetings were held to listen to delegations from community groups.

These included: the Chamber of Commerce, Historical Society, Ronald McDonald House Charities, Aurora Visual Arts Association, Friendship Centre, Amateur Football Association, Curling Club, Hearts for Healthcare, Dragonfly Centre, Child & Adolescent Mental Health Collaboration, Stepping Stones Crisis Society, Gear Grabbers, SPCA, Jr. A Pontiacs, Senior Citizens Society, and the Clayton Bellamy Foundation for the Arts.

The overall ask from these organizations, that are annually funded in one variety or another, is $640,000. But some of that total is increases.

The Morning After