Rocky View County (RVC) council passed the municipality's final 2023 budget at their April 11 meeting, and the news was not as bad as first anticipated.
Instead of a six per cent tax increase (proposed in the interim budget introduced last fall), county residents will be hit with a three per cent increase this year.
RVC executive director of Corporate Services Kent Robinson informed council of the positive news during Tuesday’s meeting.
“We have updated our assessment totals,” he explained, “and you’ll see in the (budget) update that our assessment totals came back much higher than what we had anticipated when we approved the (interim) budget back in December.”
According to the budget update documents provided by Robinson, RVC brought in about $6.9 million in additional tax revenue this spring, or about $4.7 million higher than projected.
Robinson recommended the benefits of this additional revenue be passed on to RVC residents by decreasing the proposed six per cent tax increase down to four per cent for a $1.6 million tax savings, with the remaining $3.1 million being transferred to the County’s reserves.
However, Division 4 Coun. Samanntha Wright asked Robinson to put together some tax options that were even lower to help RVC residents who have been struggling this year with difficult financial circumstances. She suggested a three per cent hike instead of four per cent would be a more tolerable increase, in her mind.
Robinson said he could produce lower tax options if council required it, and even suggested that a zero per cent increase was possible, if that was the will of council.
“But that would never be my advice,” he stated frankly. “And the reason it would never be my advice is this: to fund inflationary cost increases by (new) growth is never a good idea, because you fall behind. The reason I am proposing a four per cent [increase is that] it’s a compromise. I still believe that actual (inflation) cost increases (to RVC) were six per cent, but because of the additional growth we had, that’s why we have recommended what we have recommended.”
Nevertheless, Mayor and Division 3 Coun. Crystal Kissel did not feel it was entirely right for council to pull additional taxes from the pockets of RVC residents just so they could put a couple extra million dollars away for RVC tax stabilization reserves, (which already stand at about $42 million), without being able to justify it in terms of a result which is going to benefit local ratepayers.
“What should we be investing rather than saving?” Kissel asked rhetorically, referring to the $42 million already in the reserve funds. “Because if you are just taking money out of the residents’ savings account and putting it in our (County) savings account, I think we are not doing our jobs.”
Division 7 Coun. Al Schule, agreeing with Wright and Kissel, also felt three per cent was a sufficient tax increase to cover the County’s bases yet still take some pressure off local taxpayers. Tax reserves are supposed to be funds put away for a “rainy day,” argued Schule, and given the difficult financial circumstances many county residents faced in the past year, he felt that day had arrived.
“I think the cost of living people are finding right now, just with the cost of groceries and you name it, the inflation is killing a lot of people,” he said. “So, I’d like to see less going into the reserve and drop our taxes.”
Later in the meeting, Wright introduced a motion that RVC only increase taxes by three per cent in 2023, meaning $2.1 million instead of $3.1 million would be transferred to the County’s reserves.
Division 1 Coun. Kevin Hanson was opposed. He felt given the inflationary pressures facing RVC were about six per cent, the taxes taken in should try to reflect that as much as they can.
“Setting tax rates below inflation is bad news,” he said, “because at some point, you have to pay the piper, and that is going to be an ugly conversation once our growth slows down.”
Hanson also argued if additional funds ended up going into the municipality’s reserves, then those dollars could be put to good use to complete or expedite outstanding capital projects, such as building new fire halls or other essential infrastructure.
Division 6 Coun. and Deputy Mayor Sunny Samra also felt council should follow staff’s recommendation and bring in a four per cent tax increase instead of three per cent.
However, the majority of council agreed with Wright and Schule, and voted for the three per cent tax increase. The final vote for that increase ended up being 4-2, with Hanson and Samra the two opposed.
Division 2 Coun. Don Kochan was not present for the vote on Tuesday.
