Morris town council presented their 2024 financial plan to the public on May 9. The $5.2 million budget is 4.37 per cent higher than that of last year.
Mayor Scott Crick commented that “it ended up being a challenging year for budgeting” because several “time sensitive projects came together at the same time.” These included replacement of the town’s main water distribution plant, infrastructure for the new child care facility on the south end of Morris, and the addition of an accessibility ramp to the community pool.
“[The town] had limited control over the timelines once the commitments were made,” the mayor noted.
Crick assured that “as a council, we have done what we can to minimize the inflationary increases we’ve seen since 2021 to tax payers, [but] the cost of these major capital projects has given us less flexibility in 2024.”
Mill rates, the amount of tax paid per dollar of property assessment value, increased 1.73 mills to 26.3. Residential and commercial properties will both see a seven per cent tax increase, along with a 1.3 per cent and 7.2 per cent school tax increase, respectively.
“For someone with a $200,000 home, this should impact them at $20/month or less,” Crick noted.
Proposed expenditures for Morris in 2024 include a four per cent increase to protective services, a 10 per cent increase for economic development, and an almost 200 per cent jump in fiscal service. Fiscal services cover all capital expenditures made annually by the town, plus all debt coverage. The flow-through of 100 per cent coverage of funds from the province for the new child care facility has artificially caused the jump in the fiscal services fund.
Transfers to reserves and capital purchases funded by reserves will fall by 27 per cent and 48 per cent, respectively.
In order to balance the proposed expenses, council will be withdrawing just over $860,000 from reserves. However, since 2019, the town has been able to add $1.1 million to the reserves fund, keeping in mind value-for-money for all activities in recent years. Several ambitious projects were unable to go ahead as planned, with monies remaining in reserve.
“Therefore, we are seeing the use of some reserves this year as we ‘catch up’ on a number of projects, including the zero entry of the pool (for which we had just under 40 per cent put aside in reserves), the new Town Community Plan, and a mandatory update to our zoning bylaw,” explained Crick. “Unlike past reviews, we’re ensuring that the work is being done fully, and that we leave a clear and inspirational plan for the community, and a development-friendly zoning by-law with provision to help with Main Street revitalization.”
Crick added, “Where we do see a shift from 2023 is how funds are being spent. In 2023, we had major spends in deferred roadwork, which was fully funded from saved gas tax money.”
Completed 2023 projects included equipment renewal for both the public works and fire department, repaving of Charles Ave West, and a mower purchase for the recreation department.
“In 2024, we have more modest road plans, but are now spending $355K more on the pool, which is only partially funded from savings and grants,” said Crick. “We are also seeing the borrowing cost for the industrial park going up, mainly as we cannot budget around property sales until they are contracted/assured. This amount will come down with any sales made during the year. And as mentioned, we now have additional borrowing for the water distribution plant.”
Additional projects for 2024 include appliance upgrades and truck purchases for both public works and the fire department and asphalt overlay on the baseball diamond road, among others.
The town plans to contribute financially to the community by awarding monies and grants to the Valley Ag Society, Riverview Golf & Country Club, the community gardens, Red River Valley Food Bank, and Morris Area Senior Services, to name a few.
Crick is optimistic as council looks towards 2025’s budget.
“The 2024 budget is somewhat atypical due to the timing and size of multiple projects occurring, [but] council believes [2025] will be much less challenging due to the completion of a number of projects, and that most ‘catch up’ will have happened in 2024. Although we cannot predict things fully at this time, council’s goal will be to hold or reduce the amount of tax residents and businesses pay in 2025.”
