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Burns Lake’s provisional budget approved

Council decided to increase residential tax rates by one per cent, and not to increase commercial tax rates.
Burns Lake’s provisional budget approved
Council members discuss the tax rate increase for the Village of Burns Lake during the village’s budget meeting of March 3

Village council approved the Burns Lake’s 2015 provisional budget in council chambers on March 3, 2015.

Council decided to not increase commercial tax rates while increasing residential, utility, major industry and recreation/non-profit tax rates by one per cent.

The Village of Burns Lake has managed to keep residential tax rates under a two per cent increase over the last few years. In 2014, there was a zero per cent increase; In 2013, the increase was of one per cent; In 2012, the increase was of zero per cent; And in 2011, there was a two per cent increase.

At the start of the meeting, council was looking at a two per cent increase for residential tax rates but decided to keep that increase at one per cent and raise service fees instead.

Services offered at the Lakeside Multiplex, Tom Forsyth Memorial Arena, and the Burns Lake Curling Club will see an increase of 10 per cent effective July 1, 2015.

A day pass at the Lakeside Multiplex for non-members currently costs $5.50. With the new rate, a day pass will cost $6.05. Three months membership at the Lakeside Multiplex currently costs $80, but with the new rate, it will cost $88.

Administrative services such as business licenses will also see an increase of 10 per cent. Right now a business licence for one year in Burns Lake costs $100; After July 1, a one-year business license will cost $110.

Services offered by public works such as garbage collection, garbage bin sales, cemetery, building permits and animal license will not be increased in 2015.

By increasing certain service fees by 10 per cent, the village will generate an extra annual income of $12,137 from the Tom Forsyth Memorial Arena; $1585 from the curling club; $16,926 from the Lakeside Multiplex and $3100 from administrative services - totalling $33,748 annually. However, the village will only receive $16,874 in 2015 since the increases will not be effective before July 2015.

While some councillors said they felt the village should wait until the Lakeside Multiplex completed a year before raising fees, other councillors said they felt it was fair to increase recreation user fees since wages at the Lakeside Multiplex have increased significantly in 2015.

Recreation wages for 2015 total $176,884, compared to $41,644 in 2014 - an increase of almost 325 per cent. When adding arena wages ($159,656), curling club wages ($32,677), and recreation wages ($176,884) for 2015, the total budget for wages at the recreation complex is $369,227, compared to $226,020 in 2014.

Other budget increases include the salary of the Burns Lake fire chief - from $73,980 in 2014 to $77,251 in 2015.

There were no wage increases to office workers, chief administrative officer and department heads of the Village of Burns Lake in 2015. However, there was a 1.5 per cent increase to union wages for public works crew and multiplex/arena crew as per their union contract. Mayor and council also had an increase in their remuneration in 2015.

During the meeting, village staff also identified timing issues with the Eighth Avenue resurfacing project.

The grant money that council is expecting to repair the road - the strategic priorities fund - will not be releasing approvals for grant funding until September 2015. This will likely set the project back until 2016. In the meantime, Eighth Avenue needs repair work immediately. Staff requested an additional $10,000 to be added to operating expense for surface repair.

Council agreed that repairing Eighth Avenue is a priority for the village, and allocated $10,000 for immediate repairs out of a surplus of $11,220 in the budget.

The provisional budget will be brought back to council in May 2015 in the form of a bylaw for final approval. Present at the meeting were Mayor Luke Strimbold, councillors John Illes, Susan Schienbein, Kelly Holliday and Christopher Beach, as well as chief administrative officer Sheryl Worthing, clerk Cameron Hart and four other members of the village staff.