Council shaved tens of thousands of dollars off its 2012 operating budget last week, reducing the proposed municipal tax increase to 4.3 per cent, down from 6.7 per cent.

The Dec. 20 meeting of council was the last to discuss the proposed 2012 budget before it is tabled during the regular meeting on Jan. 3.

The change to the proposed tax increase was made possible by two motions at council, a decrease to the fire department dispatch fee by $25,000 and the allocation of utility costs to users. 

The original, proposed budget released in mid-November included a 4.1-per-cent municipal tax increase. That was later increased to 6.7 per cent because of a massive jump in electricity rates and higher than anticipated utility usage in 2011.

The passing on of utility costs to the users means that the municipality will break even for water, sewer and solid waste, said Alice Lettner, the municipality’s director of finance and administration. 

In the proposed budget, there is a 1.65-per-cent increase for water, a 4.85-per-cent increase for sewer and a 2.5-per-cent increase to solid waste fees, which helps to bring the tax increase down.

Council’s budget adjustments, which equate to $25,000, were the result of two motions brought forward on Dec. 20.

The first was to realize $15,000 in revenue from the municipal storage lot by putting it in the corporate and legislative services budget. It wasn’t initially included because administration is currently looking for a non-profit organization to take over the responsibility of the lot.

Coun. Rico Damota, who made the motion, said because the municipality hasn’t received any applications to date, the budget “should reflect revenue in 2012, in the case that nobody does take it over.”

The motion was carried unanimously, although Mayor Richard Ireland raised a concern that if the lot does change hands that could put the budget into a deficit.

Coun. Dwain Wacko supported the motion, despite the mayor’s concern, pointing out it would likely take a year to solidify an agreement with an interested party, so the money should be accounted for in 2012.

The second motion brought forward was to eliminate $10,000 from the Community and Family Services budget. The money had been earmarked to start a community foundation.

Coun. Gilbert Wall made the motion, saying, “I don’t think we need to go down this road right now, particularly with the stuff we’re doing with the budget overall.”

The motion passed unanimously, with council agreeing that although it would like to see Jasper form a community foundation in the future, now isn’t the right time for a $10,000 budget item.

“I think eventually we’re going to have to move forward with this. I think it’s a great thing for the community, especially that it can be drawn from when there is a time of need for it,” said Damota.

“But right now, because I’ve been vocal and looking for areas to cut back as far as we can on the budget, I can’t support going ahead with this.”