Taxpayers in Garden Valley School Division will be paying just over five per cent more in local school taxes in the coming year.
The increase is part of a 2024-25 budget that also increases by about five per cent to $59.3 million, or an increase of $2.7 million from the current school year.
With the province lifting the restriction on local school tax increases, it gave the division more leeway to meet the needs of an increasing enrolment that is forecast to rise by two per cent this fall to around 4,230 students.
“Balance was the key,” board chairperson Leah Klassen said following a special meeting last Tuesday which introduced the draft budget. “We’re grateful to our government partners in education to allow school boards the autonomy to raise taxes as they see needed in a reasonable manner.
“Garden Valley has traditionally run a very lean budget,” she added. “It was definitely a challenge to take a look at all of the needs of Garden Valley because we haven’t been able to infuse funding into that based on the decreased funding we have been receiving … that probably was the biggest challenge, to look at overall and then what are the highest needs of the school division.”
The budget means a residential property valued at $300,000 will see an $80 increase in local school tax to $1,630. A $500,000 business will get a $200 hike to $3,920, while $2 million worth of agricultural land will be assessed $310 more to $6,270.
The budget sees 64 per cent of revenue coming through provincial funding, which overall increases by $1.1 million to $37.8 million, although a portion of that increase is targeted funding.
Municipal support through taxes then accounts for 34 per cent, rising by $2.3 million to $20.4 million.
The remaining two per cent comes from other sources.
Salaries and benefits make up 84 per cent of expenditures to a total of over $49.8 million, while services account for eight per cent or about $4.5 milschool administrative assistant.
Capital projects include the Winkler Elementary School office relocation at a cost of $350,000 and replacement of the JR Walkof School link for $150,000 as well as window replacements at Northlands Parkway Collegiate for $500,000.
“We were disappointed that those windows were not doing what they should be doing,” explained Klassen. Winkler’s second high school opened in 2013.
“We undertook every avenue to try to find some party that was part of the construction process that we could get a remedy from,” added secretary-treasurer Kevin Vovchuk. “Unfortunately, it is going to be our cost.”
Vovchuk sees the financial plan largely as a status quo budget but with a few initiatives, including primarily targeting additional administrative time and support.
“That was seen as a need, especially in some of our smaller schools, so it was targeted to try to provide more support to those specific schools.”
Klassen agreed there was a need for a bit more focus on student supports, including addressing areas related to mental health.
“With the additional administration in our buildings, that is what we are hoping will help mitigate some of that,” she said.
“Certainly some of the challenges was looking at all of the feedback our community had provided for us. We did lots of work in terms of consultation,” noted superintendent Dan Ward. “We also talked to our school leaders, our staff, and we really gauged where the needs were, and we really did see that in our schools there’s increased pressures on student services and certainly increased pressures on our school leaders.
“It’s why we added some staffing to our school leader allotment. Most of our part-time school leaders, and that would be our vice principals, also take on the role of student services, be it guidance teachers or resource teachers … and we know that often the role of vice principal is much more than just a quarter time,” said Ward.
“So with additional time in those buildings and adding two part-time vice principals to two of our smaller schools—Plum Coulee and Southwood—that makes a huge difference.”
