Airdrie taxpayers will be paying an additional three per cent in property taxes in 2016, after City council approved the increase at its Dec. 7 meeting.
For the average residential taxpayer, this means an additional $4.03 on their monthly tax bill or an additional $48.36 per year. Businesses will see an increase of $60.80 per month or $729.60 per year.
The Council Budget Committee (CBC) recommended a 2.5 per cent increase, however, a discussion at the Dec. 7 meeting about the need to fund the RCMP’s original request for eight additional members instead of the six included in the proposed budget had the endorsement of most councillors.
Inspector Gordon Sage said he scaled his original request back to the six positions he considers “critical” when asked by the CBC to find places to cut the budget.
“When it comes to this year, (our need) remains at eight (officers),” Sage said. “However, when we really look closely, I classify six as critical and two are important.”
Most of the requested positions will be supervisory positions, working alongside general duty officers on the streets, according to Sage.
“I fully support eight (officers),” Mayor Peter Brown said. “We’ve seen a rise in a number of things that I’ve honestly never seen here in Airdrie. I believe it’s the right thing to do. It’s the right timing to have these boots on the ground.”
Councillor Ron Chapman asked Lucy Wiwcharuk, director of Corporate Services, to calculate the impact on the budget and on property taxes if the addition of eight officers was approved.
“The cost to the City of Airdrie (per officer) is $145,000 on an annual basis. I’m assuming these two additional officers would start April 1 as we have the other six planned,” she said. “That will come to a cost of about $109,000 (per officer) so $220,000. We’ve calculated that out to an additional 0.46 tax revenue (required).”
Councillor Candice Kolson made a motion to approve the budget including the two additional RCMP officers. She moved the number be rounded up to three per cent with the overage of 0.04 per cent being transferred to reserves and earmarked for tax stabilization in case Airdrie’s growth, on which the City has relied for much of its revenue, were to slow significantly in upcoming years.
The proposed budget included 0.5 per cent, or $227,500, of collected taxes be transferred to reserves. With the inclusion of this additional 0.04 per cent, that number is now $246,946.
The City’s 2016 Operating Budget includes upgrades and enhancements to Nose Creek Park at a cost of $2.47 million as well as upgrades to Yankee Valley Boulevard between Bayside Gate and 24 Street at a cost of $9.4 million and to Eighth Street from Yankee Valley Boulevard to Hillcrest Way at a cost of $7 million. Both of these roadwork projects are intended to help with Airdrie’s traffic issues that can be directly attributed to growth.
Also included in the operating budget is 15 new City of Airdrie full-time employees.
Ultimately, council approved the 2016 Operating Budget of $120,017,441 and the 2016 Capital Budget of $56,184,226.
The vote wasn’t unanimous with Brown voting against the proposed budgets.
“I certainly didn’t agree with the 15 new employees. Over 40 per cent of our budget is used to pay for our employees. Those 15 add $1.3 million to the tax roll.”
According to Brown, because City staff could not confirm the positions were critical to the running of the municipality, he felt he had to vote against the proposed operating budget.
Brown also voted against the capital budget because he said he didn’t feel the enhancement to Nose Creek Park was something that needed to happen in 2016.
