Budget Process
Around September of each year, town staff begins assembling their department budgets for Council review. The items in the budget are derived from year to year expenses such as staff wages, telephone bills, utility bills and regular items such as these. Town staff keep a list of products that need to be added or replaced and services that could be added or enhanced and this list is derived from the public, staff or Council.
Each Department then presents their budget to Council and these meetings are open to the public. Council reviews the budgets, recommends changes and then approves the budget once consensus has been reached.
Around the month of March, the Alberta School Foundation Fund advises the Municipality of what the school requisition will be. That number is not negotiable and it is the municipality’s responsibility to collect that money on behalf of the School.
Once the numbers have been added together, Council will take another look at the budget to determine if additional changes need to be made. Once consensus is reached once again, Council will pass a bylaw to set the tax rate and that value will be used to calculate individual taxes.