(rdnewsNOW file photo)

By Troy Gillard

using reserves to balance the books

Red Deer County tables “rainy day budget” for public input

Dec 1, 2020 | 1:09 PM

Red Deer County is looking to use reserves to keep its books balanced moving forward without burdening ratepayers.

County council on Tuesday approved tabling the 2021 to 2023 Operating budget and the 2021 to 2025 Capital budget to the December 15 council meeting to allow for public input.

The budget is described as one which “holds service levels steady with a negligible change to tax levels.”

Administration was challenged with preparing a budget that took into account the global COVID-19 pandemic, changing economic factors, potentially large assessment changes and the lack of certainty related to grant funding, factors beyond the county’s control and difficult to predict.

Director of Corporate Services Heather Surkan calls what they came up with, a “rainy day budget” due to its significant reliance on reserves, to the tune of $34.3 million for 2021-23, leaving $4.6 million left at the end of 2023.

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“Administration does feel that now is the time to use these reserves as they were designed to provide economic relief during the toughest of economic times,” she told council. “However, if those trends do continue the county would be put into an overall ‘historically low’ level of reserves.”

There are no new taxes or fees in the proposed budget, or any cuts to existing county service levels.

(Source: Red Deer County)

County staff is predicting a 3 per cent reduction in total municipal tax revenue from 2019 to 2020 and are budgeting for a further 3.5 per cent reduction in tax revenue for 2021. Total reduction in municipal tax revenues over the past two years is estimated to be 6.5 per cent, or in excess of $3 million. Finalized assessments figures for the 2021 budget should be available in the first quarter of the new year.

Capital spending in 2021 will increase to $42.4 million from last year’s $32.3 million. This is mainly due to two roundabouts being constructed at McKenzie Road on the south end of Gasoline Alley ($8 million).

Other key capital initiatives for 2021 include utility infrastructure upgrades ($6.5 million), ongoing bridge program ($5.4m), internet utility ($4.0m), road construction on Lantern Street ($2.8m), fire tender/engine/apparatus replacements ($1.9m), county trail development ($1.0m) and Red Deer Regional Airport capital investment ($976,000).

The Operating budget will also see a slight increase from $54.4 million to $56.8 million. Thanks to partnerships with other levels of government, the county is undertaking significant public works projects while not creating unnecessary tax increases to the public.

Councillor Christine Moore commended staff for its work during unprecedented times.

“There are a lot of rural counties in this province who would love to be in our situation even though we have our challenges,” she suggested. “The rainy day has come and if we can’t use reserves when the weather is bad, then I don’t know why we have them.”

Mayor Jim Wood looks at this budget as an investment into the future of not just the county, but the entire region.

“Red Deer County is actually in very solid financial shape,” he said. “We’re successful because we keep creating new tax dollars and new business coming into our communities and what I see happening from this particular budget is that we’re going to create more and more investment in our communities.”

The draft budget report can be found at www.rdcounty.ca.