Airdrie city council finished budget deliberations last week, ultimately agreeing to the recommendation presented by the Council Budget Committee.

The recommendation included:

  • The approval of the 2023 Operating Budget of $186,633,300
  • The approval of the 2023 Capital Budget of $67,798,340
  • A 4.97 per cent municipal tax increase for municipal services (goes towards Community growth & protective services, Administration, Community infrastructure, Community services and council)
  • A one per cent municipal tax increase for capital contributions as per the fiscal framework
  • Accept the 2024-2025 operating plans and 2024-2032 capital plans for information

Council voted 5-2 in favour of the recommendation, Mayor Peter Brown and Deputy Mayor Heather Spearman voted against the motion.

Although Mayor Brown voted against the motion, he clarified he just needed more time to go through the budget.

"I've been going through each department over the last few days, just to get it all square in my head. There's a lot of information, there's a tremendous amount of detail. I wasn't prepared based on a couple of things, not to support it. But, as I continue to move through it, certainly, I may change my mind. I just didn't feel comfortable voting for it, until I really had a real solid opportunity to hear from everybody then work through the budget again, and see it clearly in my mind as to which way I'm going to go."

The next step from here is for the recommendation to be brought forward again to council on Monday who will then decide if they would like to officially endorse the recommendation.

One of the major things that caught Brown's eye when he was looking over the budget was the new 28 full-time and part-time employees recommended for the city (which was cut down from 38).

"The other thing was the increase in the cost of capital projects. They've just gone up so significantly over the last number of years, the size and scope of our budgets moving forward, for 2024 and 2025, and some of the anticipated capital expenditures around new service lines for water and sewer, recreation facilities, fire halls, the new library, and many more, the costs are just so exorbitant right now it's certainly concerning to me."

Another big item in the budget recommendation is the 4.97 percent municipal tax increase. Brown said that with how council voted last week, this is most likely how it has to be.

"Based on the majority support for the budget, I would say that that seems to be the consensus that this is the budget, and these are the consequences of that budget. My guess is just based on what was discussed and what the outcome was, was that this will be the budget going forward. There may be an opportunity for reduction, I'm just not sure where."

If this recommendation is endorsed with a 4.97 per cent increase for Airdronians, Brown made sure to point out that with an average household price of $420,000, it would cost taxpayers around $27 a month.

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