[0:14] Good afternoon and welcome to our
[0:16] special council meeting for February
[0:18] 24th, 2026.
[0:20] I'll call the meeting to order at 5:00
[0:22] pm.
[0:24] First item on the agenda, agenda item
[0:26] 1.1, land acknowledgement. The town of
[0:30] Coldell acknowledges [clears throat]
[0:31] that we are gathered on the lands of the
[0:33] Blackfoot peoples of the Canadian plains
[0:36] and pays respect to the Blackfoot
[0:38] people's past, present, and future while
[0:41] recognizing their cultural heritage,
[0:43] beliefs, and relationship to the land.
[0:46] The town of Coldell is also home to
[0:48] Matei District 1 foothills. Agenda item
[0:52] 1.2, conflict of interest declaration,
[0:56] pecunary or nonpunary. Are there any in
[0:59] the room this afternoon?
[1:01] None declared. Thank you.
[1:04] Moving on to
[1:06] agenda item 2.1, acceptance of the
[1:09] agenda for our meeting today for special
[1:13] council meeting agenda February 24th,
[1:15] 2026. I have one addition under addition
[1:20] agenda item 13.2 two
[1:25] Colddale procedures and transacting of
[1:28] business by council of the town of
[1:30] Coldale. Are there any other additions
[1:33] to the agenda?
[1:36] Seeing none, could I get someone to
[1:38] entertain making a motion that council
[1:40] adopt a special council meeting for
[1:43] agenda for February 24th, 2026 as
[1:46] amended? Councelor Reese makes that
[1:49] motion.
[1:51] I'll call for the vote.
[2:01] And that vote is carried.
[2:04] Moving down to the agenda under new
[2:06] business, we have our draft 2026 to 2028
[2:11] operating budget and we have our chief
[2:14] financial officer, Tim Koba, presenting.
[2:17] and Tim just wanted to congratulate you
[2:20] on behalf of uh council with your new
[2:23] position. Thank congratulations.
[2:26] So before I open it up to Tim, is there
[2:29] anything you wanted to start off before
[2:31] I let the library library come and do
[2:34] their presentation?
[2:35] » Uh no. Uh I don't have anything. Um
[2:38] thank you.
[2:39] » Okay. So, Kendra, we'll let the two of
[2:42] you come up and uh whenever you're
[2:46] settled in, you got to use your
[2:47] microphone and if you could both
[2:49] introduce yourself for the public record
[2:51] and then you can do your presentation,
[2:53] please.
[2:59] » My name is Kendra Bur. I am the head
[3:01] librarian at the Coldell Public Library.
[3:04] » My name is Candace Langworthy. I am the
[3:06] current Coell Public Library Board
[3:08] Chair.
[3:12] Thank you for having us here. Good
[3:13] evening, mayor and council.
[3:16] I'm here on behalf of the Cold Public
[3:18] Library Board to speak to our 2026
[3:21] budget request, specifically the
[3:23] reinstatement of a full-time assistant
[3:26] librarian position.
[3:28] Over the past three years, our library
[3:30] has experienced significant growth. Door
[3:33] counts have increased 28%.
[3:36] Program attendance has grown 164%.
[3:40] That growth spans children, teens,
[3:43] families, and adults. It reflects strong
[3:46] community demand and meaningful
[3:49] engagement.
[3:50] We are very proud of what our small team
[3:53] has accomplished during this period of
[3:54] growth. But as I'm sure you can imagine,
[3:59] the difficulty this has posed when
[4:00] staffing levels have not increased at
[4:02] the same pace as service demand. So we
[4:06] have approached this request carefully
[4:08] and creatively.
[4:10] As you probably know from our budget
[4:12] request last year, we have offset costs
[4:15] where possible and reallocated funds to
[4:17] minimize impact for our 2026 budget. And
[4:21] thank you so much to Tim for working
[4:23] together with me to do this. We are
[4:26] grateful for our partnership with the
[4:27] town and how this council has
[4:29] consistently shown strong support for
[4:33] our library and tonight we are asking
[4:35] for your approval to reinstate this
[4:37] position so we can continue to meet the
[4:40] needs of this growing community.
[4:43] » Thanks.
[4:47] » Thank you.
[4:49] I'll open it up to members of council.
[4:51] Any questions, comments?
[4:54] So, Kendra, that was a
[4:57] » Cole's notes version of your ask.
[5:01] » So, this position, what are they going
[5:03] to be exactly doing?
[5:05] » So, it would be an assistant librarian
[5:06] position. They would um have
[5:11] um professional oversight. They would
[5:14] also have um they would be a part of
[5:16] program development. They would be a
[5:18] part of um community engagement.
[5:21] and um eventually
[5:24] um having that MLIS compliance that we
[5:27] need when we hit um 10,000 for our
[5:29] population.
[5:32] » And what kind of uh resume do they have
[5:34] to have? Like what kind of education for
[5:36] something like that?
[5:37] » Uh masters of library and information
[5:39] science.
[5:40] » Thank you. Council Avery has a question.
[5:42] Thank you, mayor. Thank you for your
[5:44] presentation. Um and I can appreciate
[5:46] the increase in um people attending the
[5:50] library. Do we know the percentage of
[5:53] town versus county that are coming in?
[5:56] » Yeah. So, our um our library
[6:00] memberships, 87% of them are from the
[6:04] town and about 13% are from the county.
[6:08] » And does the county contribute any
[6:10] funding towards the library?
[6:12] » Yes, they do. So that the county
[6:14] residents, they do pay for their yearly
[6:17] membership whereas town um residents,
[6:20] they they enjoy a free library card. Um
[6:24] and also the county contributes to the
[6:27] rural grant services. Um and that is
[6:31] split between us and patribute. And
[6:34] » Will the county be contributing to this
[6:36] position at all?
[6:38] » Uh what they contributed last year was
[6:40] around 37,000.
[6:44] Thank you. Any further questions,
[6:47] comments for our presenters?
[6:50] Well, thank you very much.
[6:52] » Deputy Mayor Beakman speaks highly of
[6:54] your team, so we appreciate everything
[6:56] you do.
[6:57] » Thank you. Appreciate it.
[7:00] » You're free to go.
[7:01] » Thank you.
[7:03] » So, back to our 2026 to 2028 operating
[7:07] budget. We have our chief financial
[7:09] officer, Tim Kova, presenting. And Tim,
[7:12] whenever you're ready.
[7:15] » Okay. Thank you, uh, Mayor Van Rein, and
[7:18] welcome, council. Um, so tonight's
[7:21] meeting is meeting number two of three
[7:23] that we have scheduled for the operating
[7:25] budget deliberations.
[7:27] Um, now this presentation, um, I will
[7:31] start off by kind of summarizing what we
[7:38] summarizing some of the kind of like the
[7:42] the reasons for this budget in front of
[7:44] you today as as well as um you know our
[7:49] budgeting approach to get to uh what you
[7:52] see in front of you. Um there will be a
[7:54] lot of information so please feel free
[7:56] to just stop me and ask if you have any
[7:57] questions along the way. Um,
[8:02] I guess the information I I do have two
[8:05] separate um I guess PDF documents that
[8:09] have been attached for the draft
[8:10] operating budget and I will I will be
[8:12] jumping back and forth between the two.
[8:15] Um, now the first two slides that you
[8:17] see in the budget presentation, these
[8:19] are all points that are covered um in
[8:21] our in the cover letter that's attached
[8:23] to the draft operating budget. Um these
[8:25] are items that I will speak to um
[8:28] individually um as we go through um kind
[8:32] of like the the overall summary of the
[8:35] 2026 budget uh 2026 to 28 budget. Um so
[8:40] these first two slides I'm just going to
[8:42] real quick skip through those ones. Um,
[8:45] and I think it's kind of important to
[8:46] maybe go through um, our budgeting
[8:49] approach first so that council has an
[8:51] understanding of, you know, the reasons
[8:53] why we uh, did the budget the way we did
[8:56] and and sort of just to let council know
[9:00] that we we kept in mind uh, council's
[9:03] objectives in in their strategic um, you
[9:07] know, what what they wanted to see from
[9:08] the town um, and and kind of what the
[9:12] their expectations were for 2026.
[9:14] Um [snorts] now just to clarify this
[9:17] budget is mainly focused on 2026. Uh we
[9:21] we when we approach departments for
[9:23] their asks we asked them to focus mainly
[9:25] on 26. Um there are some numbers that we
[9:29] uh have budgeted out 27 and 28th for
[9:33] growth and um you know there are certain
[9:37] agreements that that go up um and so
[9:40] those have been reflected and I'll I'll
[9:43] make it very clear which which items
[9:45] those are and uh uh like I said again if
[9:48] you have questions feel free to stop me.
[9:50] Um so the 26 to 28 operating budget uh
[9:54] we first met in October, November with
[9:57] each department to get an idea of what
[9:59] their requests would be for 2026.
[10:02] Um we what I did first is you know we we
[10:07] worked in those requests based on um
[10:10] sort of the data that the previous CFO
[10:13] had populated you know for 26 and 27
[10:16] when he prepared last year's budget. Um
[10:18] however, in order to get and and he did
[10:22] an excellent job at um projecting out
[10:25] makes making sure things were included
[10:27] and and we were uh prepared for the
[10:30] future uh by setting aside you know
[10:33] transfers through capital reserves and
[10:35] and making sure that uh you know
[10:38] utilities were self-supported and taxes
[10:40] were funding ongoing expenses. Um
[10:44] however for myself uh and being new to
[10:46] this role my first year presenting an
[10:49] operating budget um I we we really
[10:52] wanted to get a a really good
[10:54] understanding um so to get a base level
[10:57] understanding of you know what services
[11:00] we are providing what what costs are
[11:03] there and then as well along the way we
[11:05] also um
[11:07] you know uh I also looked at what uh the
[11:12] alloc ations were and um you know we did
[11:16] adjust allocations kind of across the
[11:18] board. So you might notice that some
[11:20] expenses might jump, some might go down
[11:23] significantly
[11:24] um but that's just due to a change in
[11:26] the allocation. So there are some
[11:29] categories uh such as salaries and wages
[11:32] um you know natural gas and power
[11:34] municipal utilities uh debentures, bank
[11:38] charges and interest and insurance for
[11:40] example that affect the whole
[11:41] organization and the way that the
[11:44] previous CFO had those allocated out.
[11:47] you know, I may I may have made some
[11:49] tweaks, but um overall I can tell you
[11:53] kind of what the increases are across
[11:55] those um specific items. Um and then
[11:58] there are items that departments have uh
[12:01] you know more uh discretion over. So you
[12:05] I I would be talking about things like
[12:07] contracted services, purchases of
[12:09] supplies, materials, uh construction
[12:11] materials. Um and those items, you know,
[12:16] that's where we met with the departments
[12:18] and went through line by line to figure
[12:20] out, you know, are these where they
[12:22] should be? Should we increase certain
[12:23] amounts, decrease certain amounts? Um
[12:26] and and it was a we we did have more
[12:29] meetings in um 2026. Um, so those are
[12:34] follow-up meetings uh in January,
[12:36] February um to get to the budget that
[12:39] you see in front of you today. So it it
[12:41] is kind of a rework from the ground up
[12:43] for a lot of items. Um there's a lot of
[12:46] allocation changes. Um, however, I think
[12:49] the main uh message or the main uh goal
[12:54] of this budget was to present something
[12:57] to council that was um, you know, that
[13:00] gave us an understanding of, you know,
[13:02] the town's operations and and to provide
[13:05] um, a budget that didn't uh, impact
[13:10] residents or that that had a 0% uh,
[13:14] residential tax increase for at least
[13:16] the 2026 year. And that was important
[13:18] because of a few items. Um, you know, as
[13:22] council is aware, we we approved a
[13:25] utility rate bylaw that had utility rate
[13:27] increases that we weren't expecting. Um,
[13:30] there are um there is a rates and fees
[13:34] bylaw that that went through first
[13:35] reading. Um, but that one also has some
[13:37] slight increases in it. So, you know,
[13:39] considering everything, um, we wanted to
[13:42] take an approach that, um, would soften
[13:46] the impact to residents. You know, we
[13:48] don't want to see someone come in and
[13:50] then and then see sudden increases
[13:52] across the board. So, um, we did look
[13:54] very carefully at all of our projections
[13:57] for both revenue and, uh, for expenses.
[14:01] uh we went line by line making sure that
[14:04] onetime costs that were in 2025 uh were
[14:07] not being carried forward so uh there
[14:10] weren't any duplicates. Um
[14:13] and then you know one of the one of the
[14:16] principles that we kind of followed um
[14:19] and and one that we carry forward from
[14:21] the previous CFO is to ensure that we're
[14:24] not relying on surplus funds to fund
[14:28] annual costs. So that's a big one. um
[14:31] you know if if uh ongoing costs are
[14:35] going up they should be funded um
[14:37] through ongoing revenues um and [snorts]
[14:41] it it took a bit of work and it also
[14:43] required a little bit of work on getting
[14:45] the year end caught up. So there was um
[14:48] there was a period in January where uh
[14:50] we did have to get November and December
[14:53] uh numbers kind of as best we could. Um
[14:56] we still have the year end uh that needs
[14:59] to be uh well the file needs to get to
[15:02] the auditors by the end of this week. So
[15:04] it is still in progress. So the numbers
[15:07] that I'm reporting here on 2025 actual
[15:10] are unodudited and those numbers are
[15:13] well they will change. Um however I I
[15:17] tried to reflect as best I could what
[15:18] what those changes would be. Um,
[15:22] so on this slide here that we're on,
[15:25] I'll kind of just go through um some of
[15:28] those items. Uh, we are projecting at
[15:30] least a surplus of about 325,000.
[15:34] Uh we've allocated those that those
[15:37] surplus funds to kind of sort of cover
[15:40] uh now we passed a 2026 to 2030 capital
[15:44] budget and there was one item in there
[15:45] for the library roof replacement uh for
[15:48] 13,000 that we said would be funded
[15:50] through uh surplus. Um so we do have a
[15:53] surplus. So that is in there right
[15:54] there. Um just one note to make is that
[15:57] the library board is also contributing
[16:00] uh 50% of the cost of that uh renovation
[16:02] or that roof replacement. Um some of the
[16:06] other items that are coming out of
[16:08] surplus to fund the 2026 one-time
[16:11] expenses uh would be uh 16k for uh
[16:15] council expenses. uh 26,000 for um
[16:19] additional costs related to upfront
[16:22] costs related to uh training new CPOS.
[16:25] Um we've allocated 60,000 for downtown
[16:28] area restructure plan and supporting
[16:31] studies. Um now that item there there is
[16:34] there is a possibility that we could get
[16:36] grant funding for that one. However,
[16:38] we're we can't budget for things that we
[16:41] aren't sure we're receiving and grant
[16:43] operating grants are one of those. Um
[16:46] and then we also allocated uh 60,000
[16:49] towards the wage contingency. Um that is
[16:52] an operating reserve that's set up to uh
[16:55] cover you know one-time fluctuations and
[16:58] wages based on events in the year. Um so
[17:01] there's currently 40,000 in that
[17:02] reserve. So, we would add 60,000 and
[17:05] that is there to be able to draw from if
[17:08] uh you know uh based on events in 2026.
[17:13] Um or if we don't need those funds, they
[17:14] can they can be used in future years as
[17:16] well. But, uh we've set aside 60,000 for
[17:19] that. And then obviously these are items
[17:21] that council would have approval over.
[17:24] Um but we're we're just trying to kind
[17:26] of project out what might be needed in
[17:28] 2026, what might be needed even beyond
[17:31] that. So, the last item there is 150,000
[17:34] set aside for uh landscaping at
[17:36] Centennial Park, which would uh likely
[17:38] be a capital item. Um, but I've included
[17:42] that there just to kind of give you a
[17:43] full picture and to kind of tie that
[17:45] into
[17:47] um the the first page in the operating
[17:50] budget that you'll see after the cover
[17:52] letter. Um the goal was um throughout
[17:56] this process to get a good idea of 2026
[18:00] to 28 uh focusing mainly on 2026.
[18:04] Um and again we want to make sure that
[18:08] we're not uh you know borrowing from the
[18:10] future to um to make 2026 work. So, one
[18:15] of the main things that I looked at was,
[18:17] you know, how is our transfers to
[18:19] capital reserves being impacted by a lot
[18:22] of the changes that we made. So,
[18:24] » Councelor Avery has a question.
[18:26] » Yeah.
[18:27] » Thank you, Mayor. Thanks, Tim. Um, this
[18:29] presentation has now tweaked something
[18:32] for me and maybe the CEO has the answer,
[18:35] but um, so why are we asking the library
[18:38] board to contribute 50% of maintenance
[18:41] on a building that belongs to the town?
[18:43] We don't ask that from any other our um
[18:47] non not forprofit or other organizations
[18:49] that are using town facilities to pay
[18:51] for repairs, i.e. the hub. Um I don't
[18:55] see anything in there where we're asking
[18:57] um that organization to pay for roof
[19:00] repairs. So I'm just wondering why u
[19:02] we're not budgeting fully for this and
[19:05] asking library board to contribute.
[19:10] Uh maybe the CO has a better response
[19:13] than I do, but I I do believe that as
[19:15] far as municipalities and funding
[19:17] libraries go, um the town of Coldell
[19:19] does fund a lot more than other
[19:21] municipalities typically do. Um I don't
[19:24] know if that's correct or not, so maybe
[19:28] or I think Russ might have an idea here.
[19:35] [clears throat]
[19:40] Thank you. Uh, thank you for the
[19:41] question. It's a good question. Um, and
[19:43] I don't have what funding it would be in
[19:46] front of me. I don't have that
[19:47] information, but oftent times when we're
[19:49] dealing with these third parties and
[19:51] especially uh not profit organizations,
[19:54] they have access to funding. Sometimes
[19:56] we don't. And so we sometimes partner
[19:59] with them on whether it's grants and
[20:00] things like that. And I don't know where
[20:02] this money particular is coming from. We
[20:04] can look into that, but I would
[20:06] anticipate that it's a funding source
[20:08] like that. You bet.
[20:17] [clears throat]
[20:19] » Mayor Ethan.
[20:20] » Uh thank you, Mayor, and through to Tim
[20:23] and Russ. Um just on that on that note,
[20:26] um the board has been the roof has been
[20:29] um a a concern of ours for the last few
[20:33] years. uh we had financial uncertainty
[20:35] within the board knowing that we had to
[20:37] contribute 50% and I was myself curious
[20:40] about that. So I appreciate councelor
[20:41] Avery asking that question was now was
[20:43] the the year that we finally had
[20:46] certainty with what our board budget was
[20:47] that we could go forward with that. So I
[20:49] know we've been held up because of what
[20:50] our contribution has been. So I it's a
[20:54] very good question as to why it was
[20:56] contingent on the board. So that just
[20:58] just a comment. Thank you.
[21:02] » Okay. Yep. Thank you for the question.
[21:03] Um, and you know, this is definitely one
[21:07] of those items that we don't have to uh
[21:10] have an answer for right away. Um, these
[21:12] are items surplus items are, you know, a
[21:14] discussion that we'll have when the
[21:17] draft financial statements are prepared.
[21:19] Um, I'm expecting them uh closer to the
[21:22] end of April. So uh we do have some time
[21:25] to you know uh to uh look at what the
[21:29] actual surplus figure is and then and
[21:31] then maybe there there isn't a need for
[21:33] the library board contribution there and
[21:37] that is a decision that council can make
[21:38] at that time. Yeah.
[21:46] Okay. So um I so yeah I I just wanted to
[21:50] kind of go through our budgeting
[21:51] approach for this year. um just so you
[21:53] kind of understood how
[21:56] what our goals were what what but we are
[21:58] trying to uh achieve with the 2026
[22:01] operating budget. Um with that I'll kind
[22:04] of just jump into the beginning of the
[22:07] draft operating budget. Um now there is
[22:09] a cover letter attached. Um I'll kind of
[22:12] go through some of the key points here
[22:14] so that you know because this kind of
[22:16] feeds into the next well the first page
[22:19] of the operating draft budget. Um now
[22:24] the 2026 fiscal year has been balanced
[22:27] and it does assume a 0% net increase to
[22:30] residential property taxes. Um meanwhile
[22:33] the tax rate for non-residential
[22:34] properties uh is we have it set to
[22:37] remain static at $10 for every $1,000 in
[22:40] assessed value or at a mill rate of 10.
[22:44] Um which we have done the past couple of
[22:46] years. uh fiscal years 2027 and 2028 uh
[22:50] which can be evaluated as part of next
[22:52] year's budget. Um they have also been
[22:55] balanced as well. Uh but there are some
[22:57] key items in 27 and 28 um that council
[23:00] should kind of keep in mind as we um you
[23:04] know as we also look at look through
[23:06] 2026.
[23:08] Um some of the key items that I would
[23:11] like to highlight before we get into the
[23:12] budget are that um you know a lot of the
[23:17] elements of this budget um were
[23:20] reworked. So we we rather than relying
[23:23] on you know the previous CFO's data and
[23:26] his assumptions that he may have had
[23:28] when developing the budget um you know
[23:31] we kind of uh it was important for
[23:34] myself personally to really understand
[23:37] where these numbers are coming from and
[23:40] um
[23:42] uh and so it did take a little bit more
[23:45] work to to actually go back to the
[23:47] source right to um take uh you know for
[23:50] example for for property taxes, we we
[23:54] need to update those annually and we get
[23:56] assessment values from our assessor uh
[23:58] and then we use those estimates to kind
[24:00] of project out. Um so it was important
[24:02] to kind of go through all of that um for
[24:04] each of the different areas. Um, I will
[24:07] say that uh as far as like uh time
[24:12] management and where I focus most of my
[24:14] time, uh it would relate back to the
[24:17] first presentation on February 9th where
[24:19] we kind of looked at sort of those four
[24:22] three or four largest revenue items,
[24:24] right? you have taxes, uh, utilities,
[24:28] uh, rates and fees, and then you also
[24:31] have franchise fees. And, and so I did
[24:34] make sure I spent more of my time in
[24:37] those larger areas so that, you know, I
[24:40] was to have to develop more confidence
[24:43] in in what the numbers were. Um so for
[24:46] revenue forecasts uh supplemental tax
[24:49] revenues um we did look at uh building
[24:52] permit values subdivision fees the
[24:54] growth um and and we adjusted those um
[25:00] rather than just carrying forward you
[25:02] know a 3% increase or 5% increase or you
[25:05] know um we we tried to really um get an
[25:09] understanding of of those revenue items.
[25:12] Um the town is in a growth phase. Um I
[25:15] was curious. So last night I did look at
[25:18] uh when I first started at the town in
[25:20] 2018. Previous to that I worked at um an
[25:23] accounting firm where I was also the
[25:25] auditor of the town of Coldell. So I was
[25:27] curious. I looked at 2015 financial
[25:28] statements very quickly. Um and it was
[25:31] interesting to see that in 2015 the town
[25:33] of Coldell budgeted uh 13 million for
[25:36] revenues. Um so that was an interesting
[25:38] number. Um wages were about 4.5 million.
[25:42] Um and so yeah, it it was pretty amazing
[25:45] to see the amount of growth that has
[25:47] happened in in you know 10 years. So
[25:51] um and and I think based on the data
[25:55] that we're looking at, the town is still
[25:57] growing um and so will the revenues
[26:01] associated with growth. uh user fees,
[26:03] franchise fees, consumption, uh
[26:06] assessment values, all these help
[26:08] balance some of the offsetting impact uh
[26:11] that you see in like corresponding
[26:13] revenue or rising expenses. So, you
[26:15] know, [snorts] uh we looked at uh
[26:17] various benchmarking or comparisons in
[26:20] the first meeting, you know, wages as a
[26:22] percent of tax revenue. uh we looked at
[26:26] you know what are your contracted
[26:27] services and other major categories as a
[26:30] percentage of your total revenues. Um
[26:33] that all helps us to to achieve balance.
[26:36] Um so growth helps offset some of those
[26:38] increases that you have in in
[26:40] year-over-year costs. Um
[26:44] uh as far as tax assessments go uh we we
[26:47] are provided with actual assessment
[26:49] numbers. um and the fact that we sort of
[26:52] the numbers that we received in
[26:54] November, December um were a little bit
[26:56] different than the numbers that we
[26:58] received in February, but we we made
[27:00] sure to use the most updated forecasts
[27:02] in in our numbers.
[27:05] Um now this next part, uh until that
[27:08] until that fees and rates bylaw is
[27:10] passed, um you know, there is a 2%
[27:13] increase. It it's it won't have a huge
[27:15] impact on the budget. So regardless of
[27:17] whether that um changes, I I don't
[27:20] believe it will impact what you see in
[27:22] front of you for 2026.
[27:25] [snorts]
[27:25] Um expenses were adjusted uh based on
[27:29] known events as of February 20th um to
[27:34] enhance precision and accuracy. So a few
[27:37] of those items, you know, we had a full
[27:39] year of costs for, you know, natural
[27:41] gas, electricity. Um we received uh the
[27:45] 2026 invoices for insurance. Um so those
[27:49] are actual numbers. Um the only
[27:51] projections within say for example
[27:53] insurance and some of the utilities is
[27:55] that um you know we have new facilities
[27:58] that will be coming online in 2026. So
[28:01] that includes the potable water
[28:02] reservoir
[28:04] um
[28:06] as well as the storm water management
[28:08] facility. Um and then for insurance
[28:10] purposes we we do still need to look
[28:12] into some items but there there are more
[28:15] assets coming online that we um we need
[28:18] to forecast for. So there is a slight
[28:20] increase in insurance across the board
[28:22] and that that is a reason for that. Um,
[28:27] now as I mentioned earlier, we we
[28:30] monitor the transfer to capital reserves
[28:32] because you kind of you you almost want
[28:35] to see that increase year-over-year um
[28:37] to prepare for, you know, you're growing
[28:39] your assets, you're investing more in
[28:41] your capital assets. Um, I've worked on
[28:44] the annual report for the last 5 years
[28:47] and and one comment that I make in there
[28:49] is that the town of Coldell has been um
[28:54] uh investing more than $15 million a
[28:58] year in in its tangible capital assets.
[29:00] So um as that number grows uh so should
[29:05] the amount that you put away for
[29:06] reserves and for being prepared for um
[29:09] you know operating costs, life cycle
[29:12] costs, unexpected um
[29:15] uh unexpected costs. Um so we used a
[29:19] zerobased budgeting approach for many of
[29:21] the line items. Um you'll see that
[29:24] there's there's going to be several
[29:25] allocation changes. One for example is
[29:28] insurance. um insurance has kind of gone
[29:30] up across the board. Um facilities are
[29:34] um the way the previous CFO had had had
[29:37] allocated is slightly different than the
[29:39] way I had allocated. Um
[29:42] but it doesn't uh if you look at it as
[29:45] an overall basis. Um
[29:48] that should hopefully explain why why in
[29:51] some departments you might see insurance
[29:53] go up but in others it goes down. Um
[29:58] and so that is one of those allocation
[30:00] changes. Um along with wages. So wages
[30:03] and salaries. Um
[30:07] I believe we we touch on it. Oh, maybe
[30:10] not. Um
[30:12] so yeah, wages and salaries is one of
[30:15] those uh organizationwide items that we
[30:18] looked at and built from the ground up.
[30:20] Um Ashley Crab to thank for her help in
[30:24] in that. Um it was a lot of work um to
[30:27] to get the the full list of employees
[30:30] project out um you know um
[30:36] benefits uh deductions all of that uh
[30:39] across the board for the whole
[30:40] organization. Um but that has been
[30:43] worked into the 2026 and then with um
[30:47] based on the new collective agreement
[30:49] and and uh cost of living increases
[30:52] those that is one item where we have
[30:55] tried to to project out maybe not new
[30:58] positions for 27 or 28 but at least for
[31:01] uh cost of living um we have a good base
[31:04] and an understanding of those numbers
[31:06] for 2026.
[31:08] um
[31:10] two of the most significant drivers
[31:12] behind the increase in the 2026
[31:15] operating budget revenues
[31:18] um and expenses compared to fiscal year
[31:20] 2025 are um so number one would be uh
[31:26] the cost of the town's potable water um
[31:29] utilities. So whereas our consumption
[31:33] charges went up as a result of changes
[31:36] made by the city uh effective January
[31:38] 1st, 2026,
[31:40] um so did the revenues as a result of
[31:42] those changes. Um when I ran those
[31:46] numbers, I tried to account for the fact
[31:48] that if you increase the rates for
[31:50] consumption, you know, residents might
[31:52] respond by not using as much water. So I
[31:56] didn't project a too large of an
[31:58] increase in consumption. Um and then as
[32:01] well I did note that we are making those
[32:05] rate changes effective as of April 1st.
[32:07] So I I did uh adjust that as well um for
[32:10] the revenue side. Um and then along with
[32:15] the the water rate charges um municipal
[32:18] facilities also use water. Um so those
[32:21] charges had to go up. So when you see
[32:23] the M municipal utility line item that
[32:25] is our cost of water going up as a
[32:28] result of these rates going up. Um
[32:33] a close second uh in terms of relative
[32:35] impact on the town's budget is the
[32:38] growth of uh the town's non-residential
[32:40] assessment base. Um however much of that
[32:44] revenue um associated with assessment
[32:46] growth it will not be available or
[32:49] accessible in fiscal years 26 27 and 28
[32:52] due to the town's industrial park
[32:53] incentive strategy. Um so while you see
[32:56] the revenues uh go up significantly uh
[33:00] on the revenue side um it's actually
[33:05] uh with the incentive you may you you
[33:07] will not recognize or be able to uh
[33:09] utilize those revenues until um that
[33:12] incentive program uh expires.
[33:16] Um a portion of the town's 2025 surplus
[33:20] uh which we can't finalize until after
[33:22] our year end is complete. Um although we
[33:25] are getting there. Um we made sure that
[33:28] the surplus was only used for one-time
[33:31] expenses unique to fiscal year 2026. We
[33:34] didn't use uh estimated surplus amounts
[33:36] to balance the budget or to fund ongoing
[33:40] expenditures. Um this uh enabled us to
[33:44] build in expenses without needing to
[33:46] rely on any tax support in 2026 to do
[33:48] so. Um the proposed one-time expenses
[33:52] I've listed out um and summarized in the
[33:55] first two pages of the budget
[33:56] presentation. Um and and I will be going
[34:00] through each of those or I kind of have
[34:02] been as well. Um but um they are subject
[34:07] to council's approval. So, if you if you
[34:10] any of those one-time um increases or
[34:13] expenses that you note, um you uh yeah,
[34:17] please feel free to ask questions on any
[34:19] of those as they come up.
[34:21] Um
[34:23] whether or not those items are approved
[34:24] or not will should not affect the bottom
[34:26] line uh or the amount of tax support
[34:29] required to balance the budget. Um,
[34:31] alternatively, council can table some or
[34:34] all of these expenses until after
[34:37] um the fiscal year is audited and
[34:39] complete. So, until we have a final um
[34:43] audited surplus number, um we can wait
[34:48] to uh approve those and and that
[34:51] includes um those that library um amount
[34:54] that we had set aside.
[34:57] Uh so again, I kind of went through this
[35:00] already, but we had set aside one-time
[35:02] costs for training new CPOS, the
[35:04] downtown revitalization study, uh the
[35:07] roof replacement, landscaping, uh
[35:09] council chambers, um and then uh asset
[35:13] management software for 2027. So that
[35:16] will be a big focus uh moving forward.
[35:19] Uh we might we likely don't have
[35:21] capacity in 2026 to to start any of
[35:25] that. Um, however, asset management
[35:27] software will be a big help in in being
[35:29] able to, um, you know, create scenarios,
[35:33] um, plug in life cycle costs and and
[35:35] find out optimal kind of maintenance
[35:37] strategies across all of our, uh,
[35:39] classes of assets. Um, it's something
[35:42] that you just can't simply do in an
[35:43] Excel spreadsheet.
[35:49] uh for dementures interestonly payments
[35:53] uh this is related to the acquisition of
[35:55] water rights. Um now water rights um are
[35:59] are valuable asset um intangible asset.
[36:03] They they go up in value um there is an
[36:06] opportunity to purchase water rights. Uh
[36:08] we have budgeted in this 2026 28 budget
[36:12] um a 5-year uh interestonly
[36:16] uh loan. Uh like I mentioned earlier, we
[36:19] do have, you know, some revenue items uh
[36:23] from the incentive program that will be
[36:24] available further on down the line. And
[36:27] and so I would um the recommendation
[36:30] here is to, you know, finance that now
[36:32] and then and then wait for the future
[36:34] growth revenues to come in to be able to
[36:36] fund that into the future.
[36:41] Uh okay, so new items. The the draft
[36:44] 2026 operating budget includes a few new
[36:47] items, some that were previously
[36:49] discussed at the most recent strategic
[36:51] planning retreat of council. Um, built
[36:54] into the 2026 budget is $100,000 per
[36:58] year placed into a reserve for a future
[37:00] though unspecified recreational project.
[37:03] Uh, $25,000 capital reserve starting in
[37:06] 2027 for the town's rail spur. Um, now
[37:09] that is a new asset. However, it's good
[37:12] to kind of start building up a reserve
[37:14] for that for unexpected life cycle costs
[37:16] or uh unexpected costs that come up as
[37:20] as this is fairly new for the town.
[37:22] [snorts]
[37:23] Uh there is 10,000 per year that's built
[37:26] in for replacing the fire equipment
[37:28] that's used by the fire academy. Um
[37:32] and the last item I have here is an
[37:36] assistant library position that um was
[37:38] presented earlier by the Coldell Library
[37:40] Board. [snorts]
[37:42] Uh future considerations. Uh so the the
[37:46] total amount of funds that we have set
[37:48] aside uh as transferred into capital
[37:50] reserves for 2026 is just over 2.2
[37:53] million.
[37:55] Um, that's not including amounts set
[37:59] aside to capital for ongoing programs.
[38:01] For example, that doesn't include the
[38:03] 500,000 for the roads program, 200,000
[38:06] for the sewer relining um or um amounts
[38:09] that need to come out of current uh
[38:12] operating revenues to fund current
[38:14] capital items. Um this is uh future
[38:18] funds set aside for future purposes. Um,
[38:22] however, like I mentioned earlier, the
[38:24] number of assets owned by the town only
[38:25] continues to grow. Um, and and so does
[38:29] the age of our existing assets. Um,
[38:31] while year-over-year increases represent
[38:33] a positive starting point. Uh, looking
[38:36] ahead, the focus of 2027 will be the
[38:39] development of a more robust and
[38:40] data-driven asset management plan and a
[38:43] reserve strategy uh that will allow
[38:45] council to establish longer range goals.
[38:48] Um look at um
[38:51] uh look at developing longer range goals
[38:54] and and and financial um projections and
[38:59] statements and and to be able to
[39:02] identify those replacements that are
[39:04] coming down the line and to be able to
[39:07] prioritize those based on uh what what
[39:09] council determines is is uh critical.
[39:13] Uh in the event that council wishes to
[39:16] amend or reduce the newly identified
[39:18] capital reserve allocations that I've
[39:20] noted, uh administration's
[39:22] recommendation is to reallocate those to
[39:25] other reserves um rather than to use
[39:28] them for uh you know other expenses.
[39:32] Uh with that that's summarizes some of
[39:34] the key points of the budget. Um, now I
[39:41] I hope you brought your magnifying
[39:42] glass. [laughter]
[39:44] I there was no way to really I guess I
[39:46] could have tried to split this out. Um,
[39:52] what I will do is kind of summarize this
[39:54] page quickly. So, this is this is the
[39:56] 2026 to 28 budget. Um, but slotted in
[40:01] there are kind of our best estimate for
[40:04] 2025
[40:06] um unodudited number. So you can kind of
[40:08] see where you know what did we project
[40:10] or budget for 2025 uh where do we think
[40:13] we'll be and and an explanation of some
[40:17] of those differences. So um and I
[40:20] included 2024 column there that's 2024
[40:24] budget um just to just so you can see
[40:26] the the incremental growth even from
[40:29] 2024 to 25 was a pretty significant
[40:32] jump. Um, and then you can see from 25
[40:34] to 26 that's there is also another
[40:37] significant jump and and I'll try my
[40:39] best to kind of explain
[40:42] the reasons why. Um,
[40:45] so I really like how this is broken out
[40:47] because you rather than looking at
[40:49] department by department, um, just as a
[40:52] note, I I did include department by
[40:54] department, budget, line by budget line
[40:57] information in in an attempt to, um, be
[41:01] transparent, show the work, um, show how
[41:03] everything balances out. Um however this
[41:07] slide here kind of shows you from the
[41:10] highle view um of our organization what
[41:13] are our sources of revenue what are
[41:15] those major sources that council can uh
[41:17] adjust to uh sort of get the balance or
[41:21] get the budget to balance um and so
[41:24] revenues are broken out by type as well
[41:25] as expenses. So you can see
[41:28] year-over-year what are we budgeting
[41:30] for, you know, salaries as a whole for
[41:32] the town, um contracted services,
[41:34] everything else. What are what are our
[41:36] principal debt repayments and interest
[41:38] look like? Um and then as well, you
[41:41] know, what are we budgeting for reserves
[41:42] year-over-year or transfers to reserves?
[41:45] So, uh this Yeah. Okay. So, I won't get
[41:49] too ahead of myself. Um starting with
[41:52] taxes, um you can see 16.8 8 the these
[41:57] are now the assessment or t tax numbers
[42:00] are driven by uh the numbers that we
[42:02] receive for from our assessors. So they
[42:04] give us numbers showing us what uh is
[42:07] expected for residential and
[42:09] non-residential properties. uh we take
[42:11] those estimates, we use um actually just
[42:15] use 2025 mill rate um adjusted for
[42:19] inflation if we do um and then and then
[42:23] come up with an estimate for the growth
[42:24] in tax revenue. So you can see last year
[42:27] uh we budgeted for 16.8 million came in
[42:30] at 16.6. So, it didn't quite reach the
[42:33] assessor's estimates, but we know from
[42:35] the development figures and and the data
[42:37] that's provided from that department. We
[42:40] do know that, you know, that revenue is
[42:43] coming down the line. It's just
[42:44] sometimes it takes a little bit longer
[42:46] than what you you might think. Um, but
[42:50] 2026, we use the the assessor numbers uh
[42:53] that I received in midFebruary. Um and
[42:56] with that um
[43:00] [clears throat] and this number here so
[43:03] the jump from you know the actual 16.6
[43:06] million to 18.37
[43:09] uh that is mainly due to uh the simply
[43:12] growth. There's no um increased taxes on
[43:16] the residential side. Um for
[43:18] non-residential uh like I said we kept
[43:21] the mill rate at 10. So that that is um
[43:25] includes inflation in that number. Um
[43:29] but yeah this is simply due to growth.
[43:31] Um it's important to note that um you
[43:36] know these revenue numbers need include
[43:39] the amounts that we collect for
[43:42] provincial education requisitions and
[43:44] for green acres. Um so that number uh
[43:49] from that 18.377
[43:52] projected um
[43:55] the provincial requisition numbers are
[43:57] down here. So you know if you with that
[44:00] increase um I believe education is about
[44:03] 2 2.6 or 2.7 and then uh green acres was
[44:08] 0.13 or something last year.
[44:11] just under three um as a mail rate for
[44:15] um the requisitions. And then uh we know
[44:20] from the previous uh presentations that
[44:24] um the residential mill rate is about
[44:26] 6.9 last year. If we factor out
[44:28] inflation, it it falls to about 6.2. Um,
[44:32] so I'll kind of just hop around a little
[44:34] bit, but uh I hope this
[44:40] is okay. Um,
[44:42] so again, here's uh residential
[44:44] non-residential assessment growth from
[44:46] 2022 to 2026.
[44:49] Um, you can see over the 5 years,
[44:52] non-residential assessments have gone up
[44:54] 128%, residential assessments gone up by
[44:57] 35%.
[45:01] And um there is a census for 2026 and
[45:04] but however these numbers come from the
[45:06] Alberta regional dashboard. Uh
[45:08] population from 2021 to 2025 has gone up
[45:11] 6.29%.
[45:13] Okay. So we are still growing. Um,
[45:20] and then here's the split in the
[45:22] residential versus non-residential tax
[45:24] revenue. Um,
[45:26] from as far back as 2016. And you can
[45:29] see now we are closer to if I included
[45:32] 2026, we'd probably be closer to 7030
[45:36] there.
[45:39] Okay. So what does that what does our
[45:42] mill rate look like as a result of um
[45:46] you know these are 2025's figures. Um
[45:49] this is the benchmark provided um in the
[45:52] first operating budget presentation. Uh
[45:54] Colddale with the recreation tax. Uh we
[45:58] are you know somewhere we are above
[46:00] average but you know under Lethbridge
[46:02] Black falls uh slightly above Taber if
[46:05] you include that recreation tax. um and
[46:08] with a mill rate of 6.902.
[46:10] Uh when you factor out inflation of
[46:13] 2026, you get down to a mill rate of
[46:15] 6.26. Now, okay. So, um I've just kind
[46:20] of provided these numbers for council's
[46:22] reference. You know, right now the
[46:24] budget for 26 to 28 assumes no
[46:27] residential tax increase, but if they if
[46:30] council did implement a 1% tax increase,
[46:32] this is the impact to the mill rate.
[46:34] This is the impact to uh the municipal
[46:36] portion of taxes.
[46:40] And then this is the dollar impact that
[46:43] uh based on the dollar value of the
[46:44] home. Um
[46:47] the next slide will kind of show if your
[46:49] tax bill was uh this is just the
[46:51] municipal portion of tax. Again, it
[46:54] doesn't include the requisitions. Um,
[46:57] but a property of 350,000
[47:00] uh would have a municipal tax bill of
[47:02] 2.5 or 2500 uh 2536. If there was a 1%
[47:06] increase, that would be the impact. Um,
[47:09] and then you can see that for all across
[47:12] the scale there uh from a 1 to 3%
[47:15] increase.
[47:18] Okay. Um, as long as we're talking about
[47:20] taxes, I think it's important to kind of
[47:23] talk about
[47:23] » We just have a question from Councelor
[47:25] Ree.
[47:26] » Thank you, Mayor Ryan. Thank you, Tim.
[47:28] Thank you for your report. It's really
[47:30] good so far. Um, just one question with
[47:32] the provincial education tax last year.
[47:35] It went up quite a bit. And so, I'm just
[47:37] curious, what if it goes up quite a bit
[47:39] again this coming year or next year, and
[47:41] it's not accounted for, or have you
[47:44] accounted for that possibility? Uh,
[47:47] great question. Um, I what I did for the
[47:51] requisitions in the draft budget is I
[47:53] just assumed 2025's numbers. So, um,
[47:57] since we don't know what those numbers
[47:58] are yet, um, and then and I believe the
[48:00] property tax bylaw is something that's
[48:02] set by council in April, May. So, uh, we
[48:06] can look at what those changes are and
[48:07] then maybe we can make some adjustments
[48:09] then. Uh, but for now, I just assumed um
[48:12] that it would stay the same.
[48:20] Uh okay. So uh if we're talking about
[48:23] residential or just taxes in general, um
[48:26] I think it's important before discussing
[48:28] any tax increases,
[48:30] you know, you get a full picture. So um
[48:33] you know, we we raised utility rates um
[48:36] you know, for storm, water, sewer,
[48:38] garbage. Um, and then there is a
[48:41] proposed user uh rates and fees bylaw
[48:44] that does propose a 2% increase, you
[48:46] know, more or less 2% across the board.
[48:49] Um, but what what is the what does that
[48:52] look like on the
[48:54] I guess on the other side, you know,
[48:57] typically taxes are due on June 30th of
[49:00] each year. Um, but how many people at
[49:03] the end of the year December 31st, uh,
[49:06] what are those a year's balances? Um, so
[49:09] you can see after after backing out
[49:12] significant um one-time accounts
[49:15] receivable amounts that have were
[49:16] transferred to tax, you kind of sort of
[49:18] get an idea of what the changes are
[49:20] year-over-year. So you can see that the
[49:22] rear's balance is up slightly from well
[49:25] it does jump a bit from 24 to 25
[49:28] compared to uh the the recent trend
[49:30] which was actually kind of dipping a
[49:32] little bit. Um, however, this is one of
[49:34] those uh indicators that we can monitor
[49:37] moving forward. Um, you know, what does
[49:40] a what does a 1% tax increase do to this
[49:43] number? Um, it might not be perfect, but
[49:46] it it is it's a useful measurement that
[49:49] we can look at. Um,
[49:55] and so that's kind of, you know, when we
[49:57] looked at 2026,
[49:59] uh, like I said, we used assessor
[50:01] estimates. Uh, for 2027,
[50:04] um, I believe the growth estimate that
[50:08] we used for 2026 was 4.25%. Uh, so
[50:11] that's based on, um, you know, kind of
[50:13] what we assumed would happen from new
[50:15] developments coming on online. uh 2027
[50:19] and 2028 we did reduce that down to
[50:21] about 3.25% increase in residential uh
[50:25] growth or I guess that would be combined
[50:28] growth. Um so you know we we we do
[50:32] project you know it's not as big of a
[50:34] jump from 25 to 26 but we did factor in
[50:38] some growth in tax revenue for 27 and 28
[50:41] and that was kind of done as a as a way
[50:44] to balance out all three years. Um, and
[50:48] like I like I mentioned earlier, taxes
[50:50] and utilities and uh rates and fees,
[50:54] franchise fees. Uh, those are some of
[50:57] the bigger ticket items that that we
[50:59] really wanted to focus more time on. So,
[51:02] we did factor in increases in those
[51:04] areas.
[51:05] Um, so the next item is sales and user
[51:09] charges. Now this um of this 7.5 million
[51:15] uh I would say that maybe six maybe just
[51:18] over six and maybe 6.5 million is
[51:21] related to utilities right so the
[51:23] remaining one to one and a half million
[51:26] um is your revenue from facilities
[51:29] rentals um sale general sales um
[51:37] and so you can see that we budgeted
[51:39] seven just under 7.5 and we came in at
[51:43] uh right now just over 7.5. So um
[51:51] uh okay so they came in a little bit low
[51:53] or sorry they came in
[51:56] um and there are a lot of different
[51:59] offsetting things that happen in the
[52:00] year. Um just to give you an idea across
[52:03] these different categories we're looking
[52:05] at about 900 over 900 budget lines. So
[52:09] budget um that might not necessarily
[52:12] mean that's a number of accounts but um
[52:14] there are a lot lot of you know
[52:16] different accounts that make up these
[52:18] numbers. So you're going to see
[52:19] offsetting amounts. You're going to see
[52:21] increases in some facilities, decreases
[52:24] in other facilities. But in general um
[52:27] for user fees they were they came in
[52:29] about 124,000 lower than expected and
[52:32] that was offset by utility revenue. Um
[52:34] that was due to just population growth.
[52:37] Um and one indicator of that is that
[52:40] water meter fees we typically budgeted
[52:42] at 50,000 but they came in at 135,000.
[52:45] So that's kind of like new um requests
[52:49] for installation of new water meters.
[52:53] Um so with that with with that data we
[52:55] kind of um increased um you know a large
[52:59] portion of the increase that you see
[53:01] from 25 to 26 is due to the water
[53:03] consumption rates. We did have to
[53:05] increase them to um to cover the costs
[53:09] of the utility rates uh consumption
[53:12] rates going up. Um so that's about 67 or
[53:17] 670,000
[53:19] increase. Um but then also on the
[53:21] expense side you can see that I've made
[53:23] a comment here that you know um water
[53:26] purchases um goes up uh significantly as
[53:30] well which offsets that revenue.
[53:33] Um
[53:35] uh we also look at uh when we look at
[53:37] these numbers and these accounts we look
[53:39] at the past five years. So 20 22 23 24
[53:43] and 25. I guess I would include 21 as
[53:46] well. Um to kind of get uh
[53:52] to sort of also help form our estimate
[53:56] for 2026.
[53:58] Um next out of line item we have
[54:01] licenses, permits, and fees. Um so you
[54:04] can see here we budgeted 277,000 in
[54:06] 2025. uh they came in at uh just under
[54:10] 346,000. So that increase um when I look
[54:14] at the individual accounts that make up
[54:16] licenses, permits, and fees um there are
[54:19] just increases across the board. So um
[54:22] you know, we have to assume that that's
[54:23] due to growth. Um
[54:27] and a significant portion of that
[54:29] actually is related to uh possibly one
[54:32] development. So, uh, we need to make
[54:34] sure that when we develop our estimate
[54:35] for 2026, we back out kind of those
[54:37] significant items that aren't you're not
[54:39] you shouldn't expect to see
[54:40] year-over-year. Um, but we did project
[54:42] an increase of about 28,000 from 2025.
[54:46] Um,
[54:48] next item here is interest penalties and
[54:50] fines. Now, this includes revenues from
[54:53] uh photo radar, for example, when when
[54:56] that was a program. Um this includes uh
[54:59] late fees on taxes and utilities. Um you
[55:04] can see we budgeted 170,000 but they
[55:06] came in at 390 mainly because of uh
[55:10] residual photo radar income that that um
[55:13] you know we started to see even though
[55:15] we ended the program um you know we were
[55:18] still receiving photo radar income into
[55:20] I would say about September October and
[55:22] now they've kind of leveled off.
[55:26] Um, so our estimate is that it's photo
[55:29] radar income was about 140,000 and then
[55:32] there was an increase of about 80,000 in
[55:34] interest and penalties and that that
[55:36] sort of also ties into that aers's
[55:37] balance chart that I showed you as well.
[55:41] Um so for 2026 we did increase those um
[55:46] for interests penalty and interest
[55:49] penalties and fines that did we did
[55:51] increase from what we budgeted in 2025
[55:54] to uh by about 94,000
[55:57] uh making sure that we didn't include
[55:59] photo any photo radar income again in
[56:01] 2026. Um however we also factored in
[56:04] that with uh the addition of new CPOS
[56:07] that there would be some fine revenue
[56:09] expected in bylaw as well. [snorts]
[56:13] Uh long-term contracts and asset returns
[56:15] um that that is mainly franchise fees
[56:19] and investment income. So uh franchise
[56:22] fees makes up about 1.75 million of that
[56:26] 2.15.
[56:27] Um and that number will
[56:32] grow with growth. Um new accounts uh
[56:35] more consumption uh could impact it as
[56:38] well. Um however, our investment income
[56:41] we can't uh we we kept that pretty
[56:44] consistent or we didn't we didn't
[56:47] increase that as much just due to uh we
[56:50] have a lot of projects happening. There
[56:52] will be a lot of um uh cash uh outflows
[56:56] related to those. we have debentures
[56:59] um and until we start uh you know
[57:02] building back up our reserves reducing
[57:04] that uh so with that we budgeted for a
[57:08] slight increase in franchise fees and
[57:12] um as the comment says this
[57:16] we're just projecting that it should
[57:17] stay consistent with 25
[57:20] uh the next line item is other revenue
[57:22] now this is just uh rebates donations
[57:25] um
[57:28] uh not something that you can easily
[57:30] budget. You you shouldn't really budget
[57:31] for donations. Um however, if you
[57:35] increase programming and part of that
[57:36] programming is to solicit for more
[57:39] donations, we can't you know, we do
[57:41] project out a little bit of an increase
[57:43] and that's what that 15,000 increase um
[57:46] that is due to community services
[57:48] increased programming. Um
[57:54] uh next item is government transfers
[57:57] revenue. This is money that uh mainly
[58:00] operating grants. So that would include
[58:02] your 550,000
[58:04] uh for the policing plus the 370,000
[58:07] additional for the so the 550 would be
[58:10] the equity portion and then 370 would be
[58:12] the police um support grant. Um also
[58:16] included are are um transfers from other
[58:22] uh municipalities or from regional
[58:27] um
[58:29] agreements. Um
[58:34] [snorts]
[58:34] » Yes.
[58:35] » Yeah. Thank you, Mayor. Uh through to
[58:37] Tim. Uh just on that line um that uh
[58:41] there transfers from uh government.
[58:43] Would that include the local government?
[58:45] um LG what's called the LGFF acronym um
[58:48] local government uh facility I I yes the
[58:51] operating side
[58:53] » That is one grant that we do budget for
[58:56] um and and yes it is the LGFF local
[58:58] government fiscal framework grant um the
[59:00] operating side of it which is about
[59:02] 131,000
[59:03] » How much is that
[59:04] » Uh 131,000
[59:10] » Okay
[59:11] » So yes and then there are also in there
[59:13] uh library grants grants and and um
[59:21] yeah, grants operating grants are a
[59:23] little bit harder to predict for because
[59:25] you apply for them, you don't know if
[59:26] you'll get them and then and then you
[59:28] you shouldn't really budget for a grant
[59:30] if you haven't applied for it yet
[59:31] either.
[59:35] Um so you can see that
[59:38] um there is a decrease uh projected for
[59:41] 2026 of approximately 168,000. Uh a
[59:45] major portion of that is due to the new
[59:48] emergency services agreement that was uh
[59:50] signed there.
[59:54] Uh the transfers from reserves. Now this
[59:56] is uh this is an internal reserve
[59:59] transfer. It's bringing in money from
[1:00:02] your reserve accounts into your
[1:00:04] operating revenues to help offset, you
[1:00:07] know, those one one-time items. Um, it
[1:00:11] always depends on what what council has
[1:00:14] approved as far as transferring to
[1:00:16] reserves. Um, and then now these are
[1:00:19] amounts coming from reserves. So, uh,
[1:00:21] for 2026 that amount is 355,000.
[1:00:25] Um and I believe that is due to
[1:00:31] um sort of these items here. So the
[1:00:35] council onetime expenses per uh one-time
[1:00:37] CPO training cost, the downtown ARP
[1:00:40] study. Um
[1:00:42] and then also in there are amounts that
[1:00:46] we transferred to reserves in prior
[1:00:48] years. So I believe in 2024 we
[1:00:50] transferred some money into reserves to
[1:00:53] help offset the costs. um for onetime
[1:00:56] cost related to the ERP transfer. So we
[1:00:59] we we're in the we're also in the um
[1:01:03] process of switching accounting uh
[1:01:05] systems right now and so there are still
[1:01:08] costs uh carried forward into 2026 for
[1:01:10] that which we are budgeting to bring
[1:01:12] into reserves. So um that also makes up
[1:01:16] part of that 355,000 you see there.
[1:01:23] Uh so that covers the revenue side. Uh
[1:01:25] when we look at expenses uh you know the
[1:01:28] first you know the first and biggest
[1:01:30] item there is salaries, wages and
[1:01:32] benefits. So um the 2025 we budgeted 8.5
[1:01:36] million. Um and it came in at two 8.7.
[1:01:40] So just 164,000 over. Um now there are a
[1:01:44] lot of you know offsetting amounts here.
[1:01:47] There were staff um a lot of staffing
[1:01:51] changes. is there was also there were
[1:01:53] some uh
[1:01:56] additions most of which were budgeted
[1:01:58] for um
[1:02:02] however that that that can be that that
[1:02:05] number might also not be finalized as
[1:02:07] well. So, I don't want to speak too much
[1:02:08] on that. That that could be a a 2025
[1:02:11] financial statement. Um
[1:02:14] Jeff's financial statement uh discussion
[1:02:16] item. Uh for 2026, what we've done is we
[1:02:22] uh as I mentioned, we took the 2026 the
[1:02:25] current employee list, the current
[1:02:26] grids, the current um benefit rates, uh
[1:02:29] all of the deductions, everything um and
[1:02:32] calculated out from the ground up and
[1:02:34] and just slot that in for 2026. The
[1:02:37] increase from 2025 you can see is
[1:02:39] 360,000.
[1:02:41] Now a big portion of to
[1:02:43] uh the new collective agreement that was
[1:02:46] signed. So that was a 3% increase um for
[1:02:49] cost of living um as well as net uh
[1:02:55] full-time equivalent addition. So net uh
[1:02:57] so new um budget requests for new
[1:03:01] staffing. So the assistant library would
[1:03:03] be assistant librarian would be one of
[1:03:05] those. Um there are a lot of offsetting
[1:03:08] amounts in that as well. Um however the
[1:03:12] net increase or the net impact is
[1:03:15] 360,000 and and from the first budget
[1:03:19] meeting you know 240,000ish or 240ish
[1:03:23] would be related to just basic uh cost
[1:03:26] of living increases that were budgeted
[1:03:29] or that needed to be budgeted in
[1:03:32] um
[1:03:38] contracted in general services in next
[1:03:41] um now when I look at these items
[1:03:42] sometimes I look at them separately uh
[1:03:45] included in contract and general
[1:03:47] services is you know the cost of our CMP
[1:03:49] which is 2.6 6 million right now um
[1:03:52] budgeted in there. So that's included in
[1:03:54] that 6.5. Uh materials, goods, and
[1:03:57] supplies would be, you know, include
[1:03:59] like your water purchases, right? Um so
[1:04:02] we kind of look at it a few different
[1:04:03] ways. We look at it as a whole. We back
[1:04:05] out some of those items that are based
[1:04:07] on agreements um uh costs that, you
[1:04:11] know, really departments have no control
[1:04:13] over in a sense. uh just because you
[1:04:16] know recycling, garbage, um all of those
[1:04:19] fees, tipping fees come out of
[1:04:21] materials, goods and supplies as well.
[1:04:23] So when we back that all out, you know,
[1:04:25] you get a number close to 3.5 million
[1:04:27] and that would kind of be like your
[1:04:29] discretionary
[1:04:30] um what the departments have across the
[1:04:32] organization to spend on contract and
[1:04:35] general services and materials, goods
[1:04:36] and supplies. The rest of the line items
[1:04:38] here below that are are really those
[1:04:40] items that I did spend a lot of time on
[1:04:44] because those are those are items that
[1:04:47] um
[1:04:50] you know for example debenture payments
[1:04:52] you can you can easily uh project out
[1:04:55] what your debenture payments and your uh
[1:04:58] financing costs are based on what your
[1:05:00] current debentures are and expected
[1:05:01] dementures are going to be. So those
[1:05:04] numbers are pretty um
[1:05:07] uh and also you know there is no
[1:05:09] discretionary
[1:05:11] um
[1:05:12] you know payments that come out of
[1:05:13] there. So as long as uh we don't add new
[1:05:16] debentures or choose to pay off
[1:05:18] debentures early like those numbers are
[1:05:21] um fairly easy to project out into 27
[1:05:24] and 28.
[1:05:26] Um
[1:05:29] but back to
[1:05:31] uh contracted services. Um so 2025 we
[1:05:35] had budgeted uh I believe it was 2.365
[1:05:40] million for RCMP. It actually came in
[1:05:42] closer to 2.5 uh or roughly 170,000
[1:05:46] higher than expected. Um, I did just
[1:05:49] submit the RCMP report today um, for our
[1:05:53] continued funding um, through the equity
[1:05:57] uh, grant provided by the province. Um,
[1:05:59] so that that amount is kind of fixed at
[1:06:01] 550,000 for 2026 anyways. Um, but that
[1:06:04] is
[1:06:05] um,
[1:06:07] and then I used the forecast provided by
[1:06:10] RCMP to develop uh,
[1:06:14] those expenses out to
[1:06:20] We have councelor Chapman has a
[1:06:21] question.
[1:06:22] » Yeah.
[1:06:23] » Yeah. Thank you, Mayor. Tim, just two
[1:06:25] questions. One on regard the RCMP
[1:06:28] contract. Um we have no uh um
[1:06:34] control over the numbers over the um
[1:06:37] over their requisition
[1:06:39] uh for so and I see that that number is
[1:06:42] going up by approximately 100,000 every
[1:06:44] year. So, um, obviously that's something
[1:06:47] we have no control over just for for
[1:06:50] council's interest. Um, the second thing
[1:06:52] I wanted to point out, uh, regarding
[1:06:55] debentures, um, you and your team would
[1:06:58] be able to get have a really good handle
[1:07:00] moving forward as to, um, paying off
[1:07:04] some of those debentures sooner than
[1:07:06] later. uh considering some of the
[1:07:08] interest rates that might be out there
[1:07:09] or or if they're locked in, I guess you
[1:07:11] have no control, but you would have a
[1:07:13] pretty good handle on how those
[1:07:15] debentures could be paid off.
[1:07:18] [snorts] Uh yes. So, uh we the nice
[1:07:21] thing is last year uh the previous CFO
[1:07:23] had had
[1:07:26] um
[1:07:28] arranged to have a number of debentures
[1:07:30] paid off maybe one or two years early.
[1:07:32] Um, now typically if you repay a
[1:07:35] dementure early, there are penalties to
[1:07:37] do so. However, if they're sitting at
[1:07:39] higher interest rates and you have, you
[1:07:42] know, you're projecting more uh
[1:07:44] additional dementures down the line at
[1:07:45] better rates, sometimes it is a better
[1:07:47] decision to pay those off early. So,
[1:07:49] yes. Yeah.
[1:07:50] » Thank you.
[1:07:52] » And then regarding the RCMP costs,
[1:07:54] you're correct. We we have no say over,
[1:07:56] you know, if they implement new body
[1:07:59] camera system or EV for, I don't know,
[1:08:03] across the board, that type of thing.
[1:08:05] Um, I think we we do uh we can set the
[1:08:09] number of established positions. Um
[1:08:11] however you'll see in this graph here
[1:08:13] what I've assumed for the budget for 26
[1:08:16] 27 and 28 is um you know after looking
[1:08:20] at prior years and the utilization net
[1:08:23] member utilization um it's kind of
[1:08:26] hovered between 80 um 80 to 90ish% so
[1:08:30] those are the numbers that I used. I
[1:08:32] didn't want to go too far lower um just
[1:08:35] because we uh I think we have been
[1:08:37] burned in the past. Uh
[1:08:40] and as well there is um we received a
[1:08:42] letter uh from the RCMP uh regarding a 3
[1:08:45] and a half% projected retro uh that
[1:08:48] would go back to April 1st of 2025. So
[1:08:51] there is a there is an additional amount
[1:08:53] for 2026 for RCMP to to sort of cover
[1:08:56] that and as well any adjustments that
[1:08:58] might come out of um because I've
[1:09:01] noticed every period the the forecast
[1:09:04] changes just a little bit. So, um it's
[1:09:07] yeah
[1:09:14] um
[1:09:17] so that was RCMP ERP transition. Um
[1:09:21] we paid the first 75,000 implementation
[1:09:25] charge in 2025. Um the second half of
[1:09:28] that will be due in 2026.
[1:09:30] Um and but like I mentioned before that
[1:09:34] is an amount that we do have uh reserves
[1:09:36] for al so that's over here. Um uh so
[1:09:40] included in that 355 is 75,000 for one
[1:09:44] time implementation or the last half of
[1:09:48] that implementation as well as 50,000
[1:09:50] for um the sort of you know the period
[1:09:54] of time where you need to pay for both
[1:09:56] systems. So that's for um our old
[1:09:58] system.
[1:10:00] Um so there's about 125,000 from
[1:10:03] reserves out of that 355 that is related
[1:10:05] to um the transition of accounting but
[1:10:09] that was you know forecasted out by the
[1:10:12] previous CFO in 2024.
[1:10:21] Now, there are other professional
[1:10:23] contracted services that increase due to
[1:10:27] um collective agreement bargaining. Uh I
[1:10:30] made sure not to include those costs
[1:10:31] when we looked at budgeting in for 2026.
[1:10:35] So therefore, uh you see the increase
[1:10:37] from 25 to 26 is 6% or 373,000.
[1:10:43] Uh now the big portion of that is as I
[1:10:45] just showed you in the previous chart um
[1:10:48] it's the RCMP
[1:10:50] um increase uh we're projecting 266 that
[1:10:54] includes the 57,000 that I've budgeted
[1:10:57] for the retroactive pay of 3 and a
[1:10:59] half%. Um the remaining 106,000
[1:11:05] uh would be due to the revival of the
[1:11:07] public safety department. uh the 60,000
[1:11:10] for the uh downtown study and then there
[1:11:14] were some other minor changes in new
[1:11:17] budget requests. For example, one of
[1:11:19] them would be uh in police there's a
[1:11:22] increase from 10,000 to 17,500. That's
[1:11:25] the citizens on patrol um covering the
[1:11:28] vehicle maintenance costs
[1:11:33] um for materials, goods and supplies.
[1:11:37] uh when we look at 25 actual or
[1:11:40] unodudited actual to 2025 budgeted the
[1:11:43] difference there was mainly due to uh
[1:11:45] water consumption was higher than
[1:11:47] estimated I believe there were a couple
[1:11:49] of main breaks that were were unexpected
[1:11:52] um and I believe they're sort of in the
[1:11:55] similar area but those were all offset
[1:11:57] by uh you know a lower operation spend
[1:12:00] especially due to a lot of the
[1:12:01] uncertainties in um 2025 in the tail end
[1:12:05] of 2025 there. Um but when we budget for
[1:12:09] 2026 we there is an increase of 15% and
[1:12:12] that is mainly due to um that would be
[1:12:15] for the water consumption.
[1:12:18] So there you know 673
[1:12:21] uh increase in the revenue side 640,000
[1:12:24] increase on the on the expense side as
[1:12:27] well. You need to factor in that each
[1:12:29] facility also uses water as well. So
[1:12:31] those need to go up. Um,
[1:12:36] and so there, uh, as I mentioned
[1:12:38] earlier, we did go through with each
[1:12:41] department, went through line by line,
[1:12:42] looked at the past 5 years, um, looked
[1:12:45] at areas where we could possibly, um,
[1:12:48] reallocate or uh, maybe just based on
[1:12:52] historical trends, we we don't need that
[1:12:54] budget allocation there. This is one of
[1:12:56] those areas where um we were able to
[1:12:59] make those um
[1:13:04] uh to get the 2026 to 28 uh budget
[1:13:07] balanced.
[1:13:10] Uh next item, bank charge and interest.
[1:13:12] This one is it's a very small item but
[1:13:14] it grows it goes up by significant
[1:13:16] amount. Um this is just bank charges and
[1:13:20] interest. So that relates to our debit
[1:13:22] terminals, our um authorized.net online
[1:13:26] uh payment portal. Um there are fees
[1:13:29] associated with accepting credit card
[1:13:32] transactions. Uh just so council is
[1:13:33] aware, we do not allow credit card
[1:13:35] transactions at at the office. So we do
[1:13:38] not accept credit cards for uh taxes,
[1:13:41] utilities, uh business licenses, uh
[1:13:44] development permits unless they choose
[1:13:46] to pay online through our website uh
[1:13:48] where we use Pay Simply. But pay simply
[1:13:51] adds on and an administrative fee to
[1:13:53] cover that on their end. Um and we just
[1:13:56] receive the payment. Um however uh
[1:14:00] recreation fees uh they can be paid
[1:14:02] online through credit card and and those
[1:14:05] are you know uh you know we should have
[1:14:09] well this is one of those items where it
[1:14:11] is a smaller item but we should try and
[1:14:13] reflect for actual what we actually are
[1:14:16] seeing um as far as you know transaction
[1:14:19] volumes. Um, and so you'll see that for
[1:14:23] 26, we've just allocated 25,000 there.
[1:14:28] Uh, principal debt repayments, uh, I
[1:14:30] don't think I need to go into that any
[1:14:32] deeper. Um, I there's no changes since
[1:14:35] the first operating budget presentation
[1:14:38] where we went through the list of
[1:14:39] current deentures and the ones coming
[1:14:41] online in 2026. Um this
[1:14:46] uh this does include the like I said the
[1:14:49] financing costs for the water rights
[1:14:51] purchase that we're projecting. Um I
[1:14:54] believe in the first in 2026 I budgeted
[1:14:57] 60,000 and then in 2027 uh 75,000 just
[1:15:02] to make sure that u just because this
[1:15:05] isn't a dementia that we can get through
[1:15:07] the province. It has to be a dementia
[1:15:09] that we get through um like a major bank
[1:15:12] for example. So, we might not get the
[1:15:14] types of rates that we could at um
[1:15:17] through the loans to local authorities.
[1:15:21] Um other expenses, uh now this includes
[1:15:25] tax write-offs. Um that would be for
[1:15:27] volunteer firefighters as well as for
[1:15:29] the tax incentive program. Um, now this
[1:15:33] you can see the 2025 actual uh will we
[1:15:37] will only be writing off 550,000 and and
[1:15:39] part of that is because we received a
[1:15:41] pay uh payment in advance of taxes
[1:15:44] outside of that incentive program. Um
[1:15:46] but until that 2025 year end is
[1:15:48] finalized. We won't um yeah we won't be
[1:15:52] able to see what what um
[1:16:00] um but the reason why that number is
[1:16:03] increasing for 2026 is due to just the
[1:16:06] inflation. So as I mentioned earlier for
[1:16:08] non-residential portion our
[1:16:10] non-residential taxes we we don't factor
[1:16:14] out inflation in calculating the mail
[1:16:16] rate uh when we keep it at 10 which is
[1:16:19] um you know half a left bridge for
[1:16:21] example.
[1:16:23] Um
[1:16:24] so that's the only change in in was just
[1:16:27] based on the incentive program those
[1:16:29] properties going up in value.
[1:16:33] Uh as far as the next line item
[1:16:35] government transfers expense. Now, this
[1:16:37] is going to be transfers that the town
[1:16:39] of Coldell makes to other organizations,
[1:16:41] other municipalities. Uh, one of the
[1:16:44] reasons for the
[1:16:50] um overbudget. Um, we budgeted 4.6 and
[1:16:55] came in at 4.8671.
[1:16:57] Major item there is the 205,000 for the
[1:17:00] horsefly spillway. Um, that was an item
[1:17:03] that came up kind of midway through the
[1:17:06] year. um council probably remembers um
[1:17:08] that that had to come out of uh
[1:17:11] reserves, but it's a transfer that um we
[1:17:14] made [clears throat]
[1:17:14] and that's where it hit the hit the
[1:17:17] expenses.
[1:17:20] Um as far as the 2026 budget, um as I
[1:17:25] mentioned earlier, I just we kept
[1:17:27] provincial education and green acres
[1:17:29] requisition mill rates the same as they
[1:17:31] were in 2025. and we can revisit that uh
[1:17:34] in the spring with the property tax
[1:17:36] bylaw. Um although I did factor in for
[1:17:39] the growth right so if we if we are
[1:17:42] expecting growth on the tax side we
[1:17:44] should also expect a growth on the
[1:17:46] requisition side um so I just have a
[1:17:50] small note there you know decreasing the
[1:17:52] residential mill rates uh you know if
[1:17:56] requisitions go up you'll start uh
[1:18:00] you'll start seeing less taxes available
[1:18:02] for municipal purposes. Uh and then the
[1:18:05] last line there is transfers to
[1:18:06] reserves. Now this is where you know I
[1:18:09] kept a close eye on and this is the last
[1:18:11] area I would touch um when it came to
[1:18:14] preparing the 2026 to 2028 budget
[1:18:17] because this line item includes what we
[1:18:20] budget for reserves at the end of the
[1:18:22] year for capital future capital uh
[1:18:25] current capital projects um and also for
[1:18:29] operating. So that 3 point uh what that
[1:18:32] 3 million isn't all transfers to capital
[1:18:34] reserves as I mentioned we put money
[1:18:36] away for ongoing programs as well as for
[1:18:39] that also includes transfers to
[1:18:41] operating reserves for future years. Um
[1:18:46] so with that um we get to uh bottom
[1:18:51] figure which is balanced without relying
[1:18:53] on any tax increases for residential
[1:18:58] um and factoring in growth, making
[1:19:02] adjustments across the board for
[1:19:03] salaries and wages. um making certain
[1:19:06] cuts in areas uh where where they might
[1:19:08] not be needed, but then also increasing
[1:19:11] where we know for a fact that we need to
[1:19:14] budget more. Um
[1:19:17] you know, we've tried to capture as much
[1:19:18] as possible. Um but uh you know,
[1:19:21] budgeting isn't isn't a perfect science.
[1:19:24] Um but I we are pretty comfortable with
[1:19:28] presenting this budget that
[1:19:32] uh is balanced without um a request for
[1:19:36] a tax increase. Um and then and then
[1:19:38] although 27 and 28 are balanced um a few
[1:19:41] things I will note is that yes for some
[1:19:44] revenue items we projected growth. So
[1:19:47] taxes we projected 3.25% 3.25% 25%
[1:19:52] uh utilities uh just sort of like a
[1:19:57] I believe you know like a 3% maybe not
[1:20:01] the same as the growth in tax but there
[1:20:03] is a growth um factored in for rates
[1:20:07] utilities and other uh fees. Um
[1:20:14] and then license permits and fees um you
[1:20:17] can see smaller increases there. uh
[1:20:20] franchise fees. Um so this is one area
[1:20:23] where I would say you should expect
[1:20:25] growth. Um I just didn't budget those
[1:20:28] in. But there are um like I said it is
[1:20:31] balanced currently without that. And
[1:20:32] then you'll see on the expense side not
[1:20:34] everything goes up either. So um you
[1:20:37] know at the end of the day um some of
[1:20:40] these items will end up offsetting. So
[1:20:43] if you uh just for
[1:20:46] um for the sake of transparency, I
[1:20:48] included
[1:20:50] the line by line budgets for every
[1:20:53] single department. Um just to kind of
[1:20:55] show you where those allocation changes
[1:20:58] were and where those smaller requests
[1:21:00] come in. Um I tried to make a note on
[1:21:03] each page
[1:21:04] um just to show where the variances
[1:21:07] occurred um year-over-year. And you
[1:21:10] might notice if you look at one for
[1:21:12] example, you might notice that um you
[1:21:16] know the expense side doesn't really
[1:21:18] change. So this is one of those items
[1:21:19] where I just want council to be aware
[1:21:21] for example um
[1:21:25] for for revenue uh we increased where we
[1:21:28] could but for certain expense items they
[1:21:30] are the same year-over-year. Now, that
[1:21:32] is because we do allow for a little bit
[1:21:34] of flexibility within the budget for uh
[1:21:37] you know, those unexpected things that
[1:21:39] happened. Um after I looked at um like I
[1:21:44] said, after I backed out all of the
[1:21:46] organizationwide sort of fixed charges,
[1:21:49] we were left with about 3.5 million of,
[1:21:51] you know, your discretionary. Um if you
[1:21:54] allow for about a little bit of
[1:21:56] contingency, it was it was no more than
[1:21:57] 10%. Um, but within these items, you
[1:22:01] know, it's only a matter of time before,
[1:22:04] you know, $2,000 in 2025 will not get
[1:22:06] you the same amount of stuff as in 20
[1:22:08] Oh, sorry, that's 26. But, um, you know,
[1:22:12] the same amount of money is not going to
[1:22:13] get you the same things two years down
[1:22:15] the road. Um, so just to be aware, a lot
[1:22:18] of these discretionary items I did not
[1:22:20] increase um by any factor. Um,
[1:22:27] um,
[1:22:29] so yeah, I
[1:22:39] but uh certain expense items that I did
[1:22:41] increase are wages. I I sort of based on
[1:22:45] the department and the makeup of each
[1:22:47] department I did do anywhere from a 1
[1:22:50] and a half to a 3% or six actually one
[1:22:53] and a half to possibly even a four or 5%
[1:22:56] increase in wages just based on you know
[1:22:59] are they mostly union staff are they
[1:23:02] exempt are they um for example um you
[1:23:05] know if a department is all exempt then
[1:23:07] I would only increase it one and a half
[1:23:10] uh% per year type
[1:23:13] Uh for expenses, uh like I said, RCMP is
[1:23:16] one of the big ones. I I've budgeted
[1:23:18] that out to increase uh based on the
[1:23:21] forecast that received. Um and as I
[1:23:24] mentioned, you know, I did just um these
[1:23:27] are the assumptions that I made for uh
[1:23:30] net member uh utilization,
[1:23:34] right? keeping it within that 80 to 90%
[1:23:36] range um I think should should um be
[1:23:41] safe.
[1:23:43] Um couple of other slides here that I
[1:23:46] wanted to mention. There was a $150,000
[1:23:48] decrease in the emergency services
[1:23:50] agreement. However, as you can see in
[1:23:52] this chart, um you know, call volumes
[1:23:54] aren't going to magically go down as
[1:23:57] well at the same time. So there's added
[1:24:00] pressure in that department to keep
[1:24:01] things um to keep service levels
[1:24:04] maintained. Um you know that is one of
[1:24:06] the areas council can look at as well.
[1:24:09] Um
[1:24:10] » Avery has a question for you.
[1:24:12] » Yeah, thanks Tim. And this question
[1:24:14] could be for the the chief. Um so I
[1:24:17] notice our medical calls keep going up
[1:24:19] and up and up and up. Um years back the
[1:24:21] province says that was their
[1:24:23] responsibility. It seems like it's
[1:24:25] falling back onto our rate payers again.
[1:24:28] Uh, is there something we need to do as
[1:24:29] council to start lobbying to get some
[1:24:31] extra funding for this type of stuff?
[1:24:47] Uh, thank you for the question,
[1:24:48] Councelor Avery. Uh, yeah, we still see
[1:24:50] our medical uh, call volumes going up.
[1:24:54] Uh I would say that our our fire has
[1:24:56] been going up as well. Uh it hasn't the
[1:24:59] medical hasn't maybe climbed as
[1:25:01] drastically as it was at one point. Um
[1:25:03] but we are seeing that burden uh come
[1:25:06] back again. Uh it'll be a statistic that
[1:25:09] you guys will see in the year- end
[1:25:10] report upcoming. But uh we did have um
[1:25:14] 35 code reds last year. Uh but this year
[1:25:18] um
[1:25:20] serve memory serves me right, we've
[1:25:22] already had almost 15 uh in January and
[1:25:26] February. Uh so uh we've seen a lot of
[1:25:30] ambulances shut down throughout the uh
[1:25:33] year this year so far and a lot of uh
[1:25:36] knocking down ambulances to BLS. So are
[1:25:38] ambulances covering other uh communities
[1:25:41] in the last month or so. Uh so I think
[1:25:43] there is uh that ability for more
[1:25:46] lobbying either for more supports for um
[1:25:50] fire departments because they do do uh
[1:25:52] some of their direct financial supports
[1:25:55] for us as well but it's a fairly small
[1:25:57] amount uh what we do get out of that
[1:26:23] Okay. Um,
[1:26:26] okay. Some of the other slides that we
[1:26:28] may not have touched on. Um, yeah, we
[1:26:31] looked at the assessment growth,
[1:26:32] residential, non-residential tax split.
[1:26:35] Um, the current mill rates in 2025.
[1:26:39] uh the changes potential changes to the
[1:26:41] mill rate based on tax increases of 1 to
[1:26:44] 3% and the revenue impact. Um
[1:26:51] and then the impact to the resident on
[1:26:53] on the based on the value of property.
[1:26:55] Uh we looked at the taxers balance. We
[1:26:58] looked at some of the other factors that
[1:27:00] may have hit residents in 2026 already
[1:27:03] or are upcoming. Um, and then we've
[1:27:06] talked about the budget approach, which
[1:27:08] was very important to kind of explain
[1:27:11] before we even went into the budget. So,
[1:27:13] uh, we did that and now I'm on my final
[1:27:15] slide. So, um, as I mentioned, uh, the
[1:27:20] 26 to 28, um, draft operating budget is
[1:27:23] currently balanced without any plan
[1:27:25] increases to the municipal portion of
[1:27:27] residential taxes outside of growth. And
[1:27:29] these are the growth assumptions used in
[1:27:32] 2026, 2027 and 2028. Uh where we used
[1:27:36] 4.35%,
[1:27:38] 3.25% and 3.25% for growth. Uh inflation
[1:27:42] for residential assessment values in
[1:27:44] 2026 is estimated by the assessor to be
[1:27:48] 10.23%.
[1:27:50] [clears throat]
[1:27:50] Um the non-residential property
[1:27:53] assessment growth is estimated at just
[1:27:55] under 3% at 2.88 in 2026. Uh and then we
[1:27:59] did not adjust the mill rate for
[1:28:01] inflation of 9.3%.
[1:28:04] Um there's no changes to the franchise
[1:28:07] fees for 2026. We didn't project any
[1:28:09] increases to the franchise fee rates for
[1:28:11] gas or electricity. Um and then there is
[1:28:14] that fees and rates bylaw that um
[1:28:18] you know we can pass later but it it
[1:28:20] won't have any well I don't I can't
[1:28:22] assume there will be a significant
[1:28:24] impact to um the draft operating budget.
[1:28:28] Um however that is set to come back to
[1:28:31] council at a later date.
[1:28:34] Um
[1:28:36] utility rates, we've increased them for
[1:28:38] 2026 across the board. And then for
[1:28:41] consumption uh to take effect on April
[1:28:43] 1st for water and bulk sewer and at this
[1:28:47] time there are no projected increases to
[1:28:50] utility rates that are programmed into
[1:28:52] the revenues and that budget that we've
[1:28:54] seen there. So it's just simply growth.
[1:28:56] We're just kind of being slightly more
[1:28:58] aggressive in in growth. Um
[1:29:02] and then as far as capital reserve
[1:29:04] transfers, as I mentioned earlier, I
[1:29:06] would like I would like to see some kind
[1:29:08] of uh reserve strategy developed uh for
[1:29:11] 2027 and and as we move forward with
[1:29:14] asset management. Um they do decrease
[1:29:17] slightly um from 2026 through to 2028 by
[1:29:22] about 165,000 or 5%. Um but again there
[1:29:28] um you know next year well when we
[1:29:32] budget for 2027 that will be in the fall
[1:29:35] even by then even in the seven months
[1:29:37] from now till then there we'll probably
[1:29:40] have new assumptions new lots of things
[1:29:42] will have probably changed so um that is
[1:29:45] something that we can uh like I said I
[1:29:48] we keep a close eye on we don't want to
[1:29:50] see that amount decrease as we grow our
[1:29:52] asset base is the
[1:29:55] the story
[1:29:58] » Has a question.
[1:29:59] » Uh yeah, thank you, Mayor. Um Tim, um
[1:30:03] the wreck levy, I know you haven't
[1:30:06] mentioned it anywhere in here yet, but
[1:30:08] you consider that to be a rate as a a
[1:30:11] rate and fee or a tax or a levy.
[1:30:16] » Uh I believe it's a special tax. Um, and
[1:30:19] it it is included I believe in this
[1:30:22] overall
[1:30:24] uh I might have to
[1:30:25] » Yeah, it is it you do show it in there
[1:30:27] as a 2.14
[1:30:29] I think increase which
[1:30:32] » When I first read it I thought oh
[1:30:34] there's an increase but I think you're
[1:30:36] you're you're using the population or um
[1:30:39] housing growth as the increase for the
[1:30:42] levies. Am I correct on that?
[1:30:44] » Yeah, that's correct. We're not
[1:30:45] increasing, we're not setting to
[1:30:47] increase the wreck levy uh rate. Um it's
[1:30:50] just due to growth. We're just kind of
[1:30:52] adjusting that number.
[1:30:54] » Second question to you. Um with regards
[1:30:57] to these arars, like that's over half a
[1:31:00] million dollars, $560,000
[1:31:03] a year. Are we able to collect 100% of
[1:31:06] that or is that like it seems like that
[1:31:09] number is pretty constant? Uh over half
[1:31:11] a million every year. Uh yeah, so those
[1:31:15] numbers came from our tax specialist. Um
[1:31:17] she does keep a close eye on the rears.
[1:31:20] Um there are certain MGA requirements.
[1:31:22] Um
[1:31:24] you know there are notices that need to
[1:31:26] be done. There are certain steps you
[1:31:27] have to take before you know an AR's
[1:31:30] balance reaches 3 years and then you
[1:31:33] know at the end of three years then
[1:31:34] there's the tax sale process. So they're
[1:31:36] they're um
[1:31:39] from her side of things she does keep a
[1:31:41] close eye on it and she does say that
[1:31:43] the number of accounts in a rears
[1:31:46] doesn't seem to grow doesn't seem to
[1:31:49] change too significantly. So then the
[1:31:51] the balance might grow but the number of
[1:31:53] aars accounts um isn't um there's no
[1:31:57] drastic increases in that regard.
[1:31:59] » Okay. Thank you.
[1:32:00] » Yeah. [snorts]
[1:32:07] Um, so I guess a final note, keep in
[1:32:10] mind that most of the expense slide
[1:32:11] items, uh, except for the ones that we
[1:32:14] really took a closer look at those
[1:32:15] bigger items like salaries and wages,
[1:32:17] RCMP, and some of our contractual
[1:32:20] obligations. Um, we adjusted for those
[1:32:24] for 27 and 28. Um, but the ones that
[1:32:27] have not been adjusted for inflationary
[1:32:29] year-over-year costs um are some of
[1:32:31] those discretionary items. Um, but those
[1:32:34] are those will be kind of related to
[1:32:36] service levels. Um, you know, do you
[1:32:38] reduce service levels as costs go up or
[1:32:41] do you do you increase those? But
[1:32:43] keeping in mind that ongoing expenses uh
[1:32:46] are fund should be funded through
[1:32:47] ongoing revenues. So either through new
[1:32:49] growth or uh and not through surplus or
[1:32:51] from reserves. Um
[1:32:56] uh with that any future service level
[1:32:59] enhancement requests, additional
[1:33:01] operating expenses from you know the
[1:33:03] construction or purchase of new capital
[1:33:05] items uh insurance being one of them. Uh
[1:33:08] or inflationary cost pressures uh will
[1:33:11] need to be funded through an increase in
[1:33:14] tax rates or fees. Uh so this is keeping
[1:33:16] in line with that principled approach
[1:33:18] that ongoing costs should be funded by
[1:33:20] current revenues not surpluses or
[1:33:21] reserves.
[1:33:23] Um, now we do have another meeting
[1:33:26] scheduled for Thursday, February 26th.
[1:33:29] Um, maybe I'll
[1:33:32] um
[1:33:33] maybe I'll take a second here to um
[1:33:38] kind of
[1:33:40] see if there are any questions from
[1:33:42] council on specific items. Um, I do have
[1:33:44] all of my work here. I do have um these
[1:33:48] individual departments and budget budget
[1:33:50] line by budget line. Um if there's
[1:33:53] anything
[1:33:55] um you know if there any questions
[1:33:57] » We're going to take a five minute
[1:33:59] recess.
[1:34:00] » Sure.
[1:42:25] Thank you. We're have returned from our
[1:42:28] break and
[1:42:31] I'll open it up to our CFO one last
[1:42:34] time. Do you have anything else to say
[1:42:37] before I open it up to members of
[1:42:39] council for question before we go into
[1:42:41] close?
[1:42:43] » Uh, no I don't. I think I' I've talked
[1:42:46] fairly long.
[1:42:49] » So I have nothing more to add. Thank
[1:42:50] you.
[1:42:51] » Okay. Thank you.
[1:42:54] Any questions for our presenter?
[1:42:58] Seeing none, [snorts]
[1:43:01] I'm going to require a motion that
[1:43:03] council move into close session at 6:43
[1:43:07] p.m. in accordance with section 197-4-B
[1:43:11] of the Municipal Government Act to
[1:43:14] discuss matters exempt from disclosure
[1:43:16] 4. Section 19, disclosure harmful to the
[1:43:21] business interests of a third party.
[1:43:23] Section 20, disclosure harmful to
[1:43:26] personal privacy. Section 30, disclosure
[1:43:30] harmful to the economic and other
[1:43:32] interests of a public body. Who cares to
[1:43:35] make that motion?
[1:43:38] Councelor Pickering?
[1:43:40] I'll call for the vote.
[1:43:51] And that vote is carried. Thank you.
[2:17:40] Thank you. We're back in session again.
[2:17:44] So, we just um finished our budget
[2:17:47] deliberations and we had our chief
[2:17:51] financial officer Tim Koba present. Tim,
[2:17:55] great job on on that. Uh, I'm not sure
[2:17:58] how you can stand doing your job when
[2:18:02] you're looking at those spreadsheets,
[2:18:03] but power to you for that. Appreciate
[2:18:05] all the effort that your finance team
[2:18:08] put into this. So, I'm looking for one
[2:18:12] opportunity, one more opportunity for
[2:18:14] everybody if they have any questions for
[2:18:17] Tim before we look at our our motion
[2:18:21] options for budget deliberations.
[2:18:25] Councelor
[2:18:28] Avery.
[2:18:32] » Thank you, Mayor. Not a question. Um,
[2:18:34] just a statement. Tim, thank you for all
[2:18:36] your hard work. Ashley, thank you. Thank
[2:18:38] the administration team. Uh, this was a
[2:18:41] very clear, concise budget, exactly what
[2:18:44] we asked for. Um, I'm very, very
[2:18:47] impressed you had that you tore it all
[2:18:49] down and built it back up again. Thank
[2:18:51] you for all your hard work.
[2:18:54] » Thank you. Well said, councelor Avery.
[2:18:57] So, seeing no more questions, comments,
[2:19:00] uh could I enter ask member of council
[2:19:02] to entertain to make one of the motion
[2:19:05] options that councelor Avery?
[2:19:10] » Yes, mayor. I'll make a motion that we
[2:19:13] accept the budget as presented with a 0%
[2:19:16] uh tax increase.
[2:19:18] » Thank you. There's a motion on the floor
[2:19:21] by Councelor Avery. Any further
[2:19:23] discussion?
[2:19:25] Seeing none, I'll call for the vote.
[2:19:34] And that is carried unanimously.
[2:19:38] [laughter]
[2:19:40] » Okay. Well, thank you again one more
[2:19:42] time, Tim, for all that hard work. So,
[2:19:44] that concludes the open portion of the
[2:19:47] meeting. Uh we're going to return back
[2:19:50] into closed. So, I will need a motion
[2:19:52] that council move into close session at
[2:19:55] 7:20
[2:19:57] p.m. in accordance with section 197-4-B
[2:20:02] of the municipal government act to
[2:20:04] discuss matters exempt from disclosure
[2:20:07] for item 13.1 subject to section 19
[2:20:11] disclosure harmful to the business
[2:20:13] interests of a third party. Section 20,
[2:20:16] personal privacy, and section 30,
[2:20:18] disclosure harmful to the economic and
[2:20:20] other interests of the public body. Who
[2:20:22] cares to make that motion? Councelor
[2:20:25] Reese makes that motion.
[2:20:27] I'll call for the vote.
[2:20:35] And that is carried. We'll take a
[2:20:38] twominut break.