By Thia James

Council approves 2015 budget, transit increase

Dec 9, 2014 | 5:15 AM

As the last order of business before Prince Albert’s city council goes for its annual Christmas holiday break, it finalized the 2015 budget and a transit fare increase.

On Monday, council voted in favour of the 2.57 per cent tax increase. The 2015 tax bill will include the levy for the Alfred Jenkins Field House.

As the City removed the Pineview Terrace Lodge levy from residential and commercial taxpayers’ bills, it left the “capital projects” mill rate. The name of the special tax changed for the 2015 year, as the Field House’s construction will be paid off by next summer.

Mayor Greg Dionne said the City will talk about it in the new year, even though it is in the now-approved budget.

“It used to be a facilities [levy] and it should go back to that,” he said after the council meeting. “Because, at the end of the day, we are going to need new facilities, so I can see us keeping that levy.”

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The City, in the meantime, will continue to charge the full levy, which is 0.580 mills.

During the meeting, Dionne praised the amount of work the City has done on its roads in 2014. He said the City has completed an additional 35.75 kilometres (kms) of roadway. Prince Albert now has 288 kms of roadway, according to Dionne.

But, the mayor considers the timing of the budget’s approval to be the biggest accomplishment of this budget cycle. Council approved next year’s budget with a few weeks to go in this year.

The unanimous final vote to pass the budget bylaw led to applause among members of council.

The approval came at the end of a meeting in which council also voted in favour of a 25-cent increase to single adult, youth and seniors’ fares. Administration will also work on a long-term strategy for Prince Albert Transit.

Coun. Don Cody said he hopes the City will prepare the strategy sooner rather than later.

“Because we’ve been waiting now for the disabled people to have a little better service for some period of time and that’s going to be part and parcel of it. And I’m certainly hoping that we don’t wait one more year before we have a report,” he said.

A report from the City’s administration recommended the increase to the single fares, as well as the 10-ride passes. The recommendations came with the warning that the system as it currently exists is financially unsustainable.

tjames@panow.com

On Twitter: @thiajames