April 13, 2011
Townships pass 18 per
cent hike
by Vance Gutzman
Better late than never.
Head, Clara and Maria has approved its 2011 operating budget, two weeks
after a recorded vote on the document resulted in a stalemate.
As reported at the beginning of March, the municipality's council was
looking at a budget that contained an 18.47 percent tax hike.
That hike would garner the municipality an extra $40,000 in tax
revenue, and would see taxes on residential properties assessed at
$100,000 increase by $40.85.
That was one of three options presented to council by staff, which
which was actually recommending a 7.3 percent tax hike, which would
have increased those residential property taxes by $16.16.
Staff were directed in February, however, to go back to the drawing
board and draw up a bylaw calling for the budget to be adopted with the
18.47 percent tax hike, as per the third option.
The second option, a 12.88 percent tax hike, would have brought in an
additional $20,000, for the purposes of increasing the municipality's
reserves, but many on council saw the third option as the best course,
to build those reserves up even more.
"It's prudent fiscal management, Councillor Jim Gibson said at the time.
"And it's still not a great deal of money."
The budget eventually came up for a recorded vote at its March 18
meeting, at which time no conclusive decision was reached.
With Councillor Ed Aiston absent from the meeting, Councillors Jim
Gibson and Dave Foote voted in favour of the budget bylaw, while
Councillor Robert Reid and Reeve Tammy Stewart voted against.
That meant the operating budget, set at $781,898, was brought back to
the table.
According to a report by municipal clerk Melinda Reith, however, the
other two options could not be considered in last week's vote because,
under the municipality's procedural bylaw, motions to reconsider "may
only be moved by a member on the prevailing side of the previous
decision."
That would mean Councillors Reid, Gibson or Foote, seeing as how they
voted for the original motion in favour of the third option back in
February, and none of them were willing to do so last week.
That left council with no choice but to vote on the 2011 budget as per
the February directive, with the 18.47 percent tax hike.
This time around, the budget passed, albeit with another recorded vote,
with Reeve Stewart casting the only dissenting vote.
Reached afterward for comment, Stewart said she could not in good
conscience vote for the budget with the third option.
"I had no problem with a slight tax increase, but to go to the maximum
goes against everything I believe in," she said.
Stewart also noted that the $40,000 in increased revenues inherent in
the budget which was approved last week aren't necessary in light of
factors such as the municipality's policing costs are expected to drop
by $10,000 this year, and council expenses last year came in at
less than half of what had been budgeted.
"A lot of our costs are actually going down," Stewart said.
"I thought option three was a bit extreme."
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