According to Mayor Warren Wise, the Village has been struggling – operating at a deficit, he said, “for far too long.”
“It’s not a huge deficit, but according to the Municipal Government Act, villages and towns cannot run a deficit,” Wise said. “There's not an insurmountable amount of money. But it's been…that way for a long time. I would really like to clean it off.”
Council voted to send a formal proposal to Alberta Municipal Affairs in April, outlining the Village’s plan to eliminate this deficit over a five-year period – which council is “planning to do in a shorter period of time,” Wise added.
The plan proposes a number of different solutions for the Village to limit its spending, according to Wise, while still maintaining its current services. He said to start, councillors are looking at how they can cut back on their own expenses.
A council motion was recently passed in favor of not attending the upcoming Alberta Urban Municipalities Association conference in Edmonton this fall. While Wise said the Village may still send a representative, all councillors will not attend as they have in previous years. Their involvement in past conferences has cost the Village around $8,000, which Wise said will already be a significant saving.
“There's some benefit of going, and there is a benefit in sending somebody [to the conference]. But, sending the entire council up does not make sense, economically,” he said. “It’s a big save [toward] keeping the expenses to a minimum.”
The Village is also looking at potential ways to generate income, including options for the municipality to take better advantage of the land it owns at the local airport. Wise said the Village has leased around 40 lots in the area for both recreational and business use.
However, although the Village owns the property, it is located within Rocky View County (RVC) – which has made it difficult for Beiseker to fully benefit from the land, according to Wise.
“We make very little off the property. The taxes on the buildings go to RVC and not to us, because it's out in RVC and not in the Village,” Wise said. “We've been dealing with this now for well over a year. We have not really come to any good resolution as to how we want to deal with it, but it is something that we [have] looked at a lot of scenarios for.”
Wise said he is looking forward to the day when the Village can get out of the red and move forward. He added he also wants to more growth in the community, noting businesses are beginning to open up shop on main street again after a couple of years of closures.
“We need to ensure that our main street businesses are viable, because it's deplorable to see a main street in any small town where things are boarded up,” Wise said. “It's just sad. But, right now, we're moving in the right direction.”
