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no tax increase = not sustainable

Blackfalds approves operating budget with 4.7 per cent tax hike

Dec 14, 2022 | 1:41 PM

Blackfalds town council has approved its operating budget.

It comes in at $31.313 million, a shave lower than the $31.32 it was proposed as last month.

With that, there will be a 4.7 per cent tax increase, instead of the proposed 4.76 per cent.

Of the 4.7 per cent, the Town notes, 3.8 per cent is for the provincial policing requisition.

“Our council and administration have worked very hard since the beginning of the budget deliberation to find reductions in our costs, and we are pleased with the results. We have kept the property tax increases to 0.6 per cent over the last three years, but the realities this year with significant increases mean that we will have an increase in 2023,” Mayor Jamie Hoover explained.

“Our residents want services to remain similar to 2022, and we believe we have achieved that balance in the upcoming year.”

A copy of the presentation to council can be found here.

“After working through the adjustments from the most recent budget workshop,” adds Justin de Bresser, director of corporate services, “Administration was able to balance the 2023 budget with [this] tax increase.”

MORE: Blackfalds residents get look at operating and capital budgets