2015 Budget

Last night Council adopted a new budget. For the average house the property tax increase is the rate of inflation plus 0.5% for a total of around 3%. Your Council has now delivered three budgets with two around inflation and one at 5.5%. Kindersley has consistently seen lower property tax increases compared to similar size municipalities. Here is a table outlining other community property tax increases.Lloydminster's increase is 10.4% and Prince Albert's is 2.57%.

City	Percent Tax Increase
Estevan	7.00%
Humboldt	5.00%
Kindersley	~3.00%
Lloydminster	10.40%
Martensville	3.51%
Meadow Lake	3.00%
Melfort	4.90%
Melville	6.00%
Moose Jaw	5.13%
North Battleford	4.50%
Prince Albert	2.57%
Regina	3.90%
Saskatoon	5.34%
Swift Current	3.21%
Warman	3.51%
Weyburn	5.00%
Yorkton	6.00%

 Changes from our budget in principle in November is the purchase/lease of a new streetsweeper; I'm not aware of the delivery date. The new street sweeper is due to some projects coming in under budget.

We expect reserves to be up to $7 million which is an increase of about $4.5 million. I wish we could have put more into future projects such as the pool, fire hall and ladder truck, and utility reserve.

About $573,000 is being invested into the WCEC this coming year. The WCEC is in it's peak maintenance period of its life cycle due to its age. 

Investments this year include: storage shed, lighting upgrades, water softener/RO system, fire suppression replacements, ice rink controller, rink boilers, scissor lifts and a dehumidifier. Something you will see, assuming the contractor is available before the season starts, is the completion of the floor polishing in the lobby; this project will be an extra $50,000 or so. Next year we anticipate replacing the ice plant for a cost of more than $700,000.

The budget process is difficult, Administration, specifically Audrey and Theresa, have gone through the budget countless times. Thank you to Audrey and Theresa and Bernie for your hard work. 

Council will begin work in the near future on the 2016 budget through our Special Planning Agenda (SPA) to discuss our priorities and goals.