Industrial ratepayers in the Municipal District of Lesser Slave River will feel a bit more of a tax bite this year, but it’s status quo for other property owners. The M.D. council approved a balanced budget late last month that sees an industrial mill rate increase of 7.4 per cent, or .57 of a mill.
That’s what was needed, says the M.D.’s financial director Judy Hogberg, “to balance the budget.”
It should be noted, however, that the mill rate in the budget is a preliminary figure – it awaits the passage of the mill rate by-law in a month or so, once all assessments are in. But it represents a best guess as of the end of March, which is probably a pretty good one.
The M.D. managed the balanced budget without raising sewer and water rates, or reducing service levels, Hogberg says.
The new industrial mill rate (if ratified) will be 8.3, meaning $8.30 per $1,000 of assessed property value. That’s still well below the average mill rate of 10.5 mills for 10 other communities Hogberg surveyed for purposes of comparison. The residential mill rate is 3.8745.
The budget actually came in the better part of a million dollars lower than last year. That was mainly because the bulk of the spending on Phase I of the southshore sewer project happened in 2005 – to the tune of about $6 million.
This year, Hogberg says, the capital budget is $4.6 million, but the operational budget is up. Other capital items for 2006 include a further $1.5 million on the southshore sewer, $129,000 for a Flatbush water plant upgrade and $240,000 for computerization of water quality monitoring equipment.
The operational budget is $21,217,743. Major expenditures in this area include $5.4 million for two bridge replacements, $1.3 million for overlay on the East Mitsue Road and $.5 million for reconstruction of part of the Old Smith Highway.
Hogberg says the total amount in taxes the M.D. aims to collect this year is $10.9 million, of which about $4.1 million goes to the province to pay for schools. The rest of the M.D. budget comes from grants, user fees and reserves.
Some other items on the M.D. agenda for 2006 include area structure plans for the Smith and north shore areas, increases to the recreation board grants for Widewater, Smith and Flatbush and a feasibility study for the provision of water service to the north shore area (along Lesser Slave Lake, north of the Town of Slave Lake).

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