“The Budget looks very good and provides better transparency for Chestermere residents,” Mayor Jeff Colvin posted on social media. “Great work from our staff that made this happen. All council did a great job working on this.”
New project funding will be allocated to a new skateboard park, new splash park, additional support for community events, not-for-profits, and the Chestermere Public Library, KPMG best practices review of controls and procedures, 2022 census, RCMP contract, twining and raising Highway 1 bridge feasibility, Rainbow bridge concept plan, three additional dog parks, additional docks at John Peake Park and Sunset Beach, irrigation and power, annexation, concept drawings of community development, new canopy trees, new fire pits, and capital projects.
Colvin posted that $8,938,991 was a found savings, $2,292,809 in cost savings in city governance, and $1,110,704.46 in tax savings, resulting in a six per cent reduction in the tax mill rate.
“There are more savings that council and administration are looking into,” he said online. “We expect this budget to be a learning budget and we have still kept it conservative, not reducing it too quickly.”
In December, council approved an interim Operating Budget for the first quarter of 2022, using last year’s first-quarter budget numbers.
The interim budget gave council and administration time to gather additional information to build a budget based on council’s new strategic vision for the year ahead, a City of Chestermere media release said.
“We are taking a moment to pause and make sure the proposed budget aligns with Council’s prudent fiscal vision. Additionally, with a $5 million budget surplus realized from 2021, we can potentially offset costs in the new year,” Colvin said in the release.
With the budget surplus, the city could invest more into the community, social programs, staff training, financing of retroactive cost increases to RCMP contracts, and a possible property tax reduction for residents in the future, the release said.
The city plans to follow financial goals and targets with departments quarterly, or monthly for some, and will release quarterly financial updates to the public.
“Council is excited to watch administration work with each department to manage new expectations and performance goals being set and getting new and improved processes in place and understood,” Colvin said.
Financial health is important to the city for the recovery plan, in addition to meeting goals, and increasing revenue sources.
“One key component is tracking our revenues and expenses more closely. We are also changing our purchasing process and centralizing our purchasing and procurement,” Colvin said. “This is an exciting time for Chestermere.”
