For the second year in a row, council has approved an interim operating budget in order to wait for more information from administration.
As it stands, the proposed budget calls for a 6.38 per cent tax increase for 2014. That equates to a $120 tax increase for a homeowner with a property assessed at $750,000.
Approving an interim budget allows administration to continue business as usual, while council carries on with its deliberations.
When voting on the proposed budget, Dec. 17, council decided it would like some conditions on what expenses directors can undertake before the budget is approved in its entirety.
“It does concern me—not that I don’t have faith in the staff—to approve an interim operating budget in the amount of the full budget presented to us—[$13,739,462]—without some reservations,” said Mayor Richard Ireland. “It just doesn’t seem prudent.”
Included in council’s conditions, as laid out by Ireland, are no new studies or positions and no large expenditures until council has given the final nod of approval.
Rather than including each condition in the motion, council—on the advice of Peter Waterworth, the town’s chief administrative officer—wrote that it adopts the interim budget “based on the conditions discussed.”
Waterworth explained that it would be more efficient for administration if council’s conditions were flexible, so that the odd item that falls within the conditions—like the hiring of an administrative assistant for the operations department, as was allocated for in the 2013 budget—can still be acted upon without it coming to the council table.
“If we have to discuss something, [that’s better] than having to come back to the council table to say you’ve caught something that you didn’t intend to catch,” said Waterworth.
Council agreed.
Like last year, it is possible that the budget will not be approved until Spring, as council would like to first see the finalized operating budget for 2013 and that won’t be available until the third week of February.
Along with a desire to see this year’s numbers, council also has a number of line items it would like to discuss further.
Included in those is the hiring of an administrative assistant for council, the regional air carrier study, the joint land use study, the benchmarking study and whether or not the delegation from Hakone, Japan—Jasper’s sister city—might postpone its trip until 2015.
Those discussions will play out in the new year, as will discussions on the municipality’s capital budget.
To review the proposed operating budget for 2014, visit the municipality’s website (jasper-alberta.com) and click “Interim budget approved” on the right hand side.
Nicole Veerman
[email protected]
