The RM of Stanley has a budget in place for 2024 that manages to tackle significant projects while not calling for an overly large increase in taxes.
Council gave approval at its meeting last Thursday to a $7.9 million budget that increases spending by over $867,000 or 12.5 per cent from 2023.
It will mean a six per cent increase in property taxes for ratepayers, with the following examples of what the municipal taxes will look like for 2024:
• Residential property valued at $338,600 – an increase of $76 to $1,344.
• 40 acres of farmland valued at $465,000 – an increase of $60 to $1,066.
• Commercial property valued at $866,600 – an increase of $281 to $4,967.
It is based on a municipal mill rate that increases from 8.319 to 8.818. It includes the general mill rate, which decreases from 7.430 to 7.395, as well as the special service mill rate, which increases from 0.889 to 1.423.
“It was ambitious … it was also a challenging budget with all of the large infrastructure projects were planning on participating in,” said Deputy Reeve Pete Froese. “We’re also involved with the health care initiatives in the area and trying to help advance and promote them.”
“Our contribution to the hospital through the Boundary Trails Health Centre Foundation is a million dollars there that’s spread out over four years. That’s an additional special levy … so that’s part of our six per cent increase in taxes,” noted Reeve Ike Friesen. “But it’s a good thing. We need it for the community. It’s a growing region, and we see it continuing to grow.
“As well, we’re putting some money into reserve for the wastewater project we’re working on together with the City of Winkler, and that will be used up in the next few years.”
The major projects coming into play with the budget meant it was to be expected it would all have some impact on taxes, but council felt that the increase was reasonable under the circumstances.
“I think we’ve done a fair job,” said Froese. “And I think with the inflationary factors we’ve seen over the last couple of years, it was inevitable that we would increase the taxes to some degree.”
“I think we’ve done a really good job of working with our numbers,” suggested Friesen. “I think with the growth that is coming, we will see return coming in the future as well. It’s costing us money now, but there’s also the additional inflationary costs that have increased in the last couple of years.”
On the revenue side, there is a six per cent shift from the municipal tax levy to other revenue and a transfer from reserve funds for 2024.
Two thirds of the revenue or $7,298,106 comes from the municipal tax levy, while 31 per cent or $3,498,697 is through other revenue such as grants, and three per cent or $340,000 is through the transfer from reserve.
The municipality’s outstanding debt from such things as debentures has decreased by $724,568 to $6,193,500 as of Jan. 1.
Here is a breakdown of the key areas of spending for the municipality:
• Transportation services: 51 per cent of the budget at $4,042,353 – a 10.5 per cent increase.
• General government services: 16.5 per cent of the budget at $1,305,770 – a 7.5 per cent increase.
• Protective services (fire and police): 9.5 per cent of the budget at $752,181 – a four per cent increase.
• Recreation and culture services: 6.8 per cent of the budget at $537,638 – an increase of 13.7 per cent.
• Planning and engineering services: 6.2 per cent of the budget at $485,373 – an increase of 8 per cent.
• Health and welfare services: 5.5 per cent of the budget at $435,466 – an increase of 133 per cent due in large part to contribution towards expansion of the Boundary Trails Health Centre.
• Environmental services: 2.5 per cent of the budget at $197,000 – an increase of 7.8 per cent.
• Economic development services: 2 per cent of the budget at $1555,050 – a decrease of 1.9 per cent.
Some of the key projects and priorities supported by the budget include the following:
• A joint effort with the City of Winkler to provide expanded wastewater treatment capacity which will allow for expanded residential and commercial development.
• A sewer project in the corridor between Winkler and Morden for the Boundary Trails Health Centre expansion and expanded commercial development.
• Low-pressure sewer infrastructure for the villages of Reinfeld and Schanzenfeld to provide improved sewer capacity and service for both communities.
• A new community pathway linking Winkler and Morden to provide a safer active transportation alternative for commuters travelling between the two cities.
• A new water reservoir to allow for expanded development in the area and provide consistent and secure access to potable water for Boundary Trails Health Centre.
• Additional water reservoirs in Stanley to secure access to potable water in all areas of the municipality.
• Continued improvement to gravel and paved roads.
“We want to continue to maintain the services we provide, but we also have to look to the future,” said Friesen, citing for example the need for asset management. “We’re going to be replacing a lot of the infrastructure that we have, so we need to put away money for that as well.
“We always look at improving our roads, so we try to improve some roads every year that we have on a forward thinking plan over a few years, so we do upgrade some roads every year.”
They also cited the community pathway in the Morden-Winkler corridor as a project they hope to see finally get underway.
“We’re hoping maybe that is going to take off this year,” said Froese. “We would like to see that moving forward.”
