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(File photo/ paNOW Staff)
Municipal issues

RM of Prince Albert council holds the line on taxes

Jun 18, 2022 | 9:00 AM

Ratepayers in the Rural Municipality (RM) of Prince Albert can breathe a sigh of relief.

The RM’s budget was finalized on Thursday with no increase to the mill rate. Reeve Eric Schmalz acknowledged for paNOW inflationary pressures are being felt across the country.

“We’re no different and we’re not immune to that stuff so we had to make some adjustments to ensure our ratepayers don’t see any impact,” he said.

When asked to elaborate on those adjustments, Schmalz explained some money was pulled from the surplus to help offset increasing fuel costs.

“The prudent management of the RM coffers has been ongoing for many years and we’ve got a small cushion that we can draw from when things like this happen to avoid having to put any pressure on our residents and ratepayers,” he said.

Among the RM’s bigger projects is the new development south of the city off Highway 2 and the maintenance shop, which has been aptly named the RM of Prince Albert Municipal Centre. Schmalz confirmed the foundation work and site prep are underway and passers-by should begin to see visible above-ground work being done when the actual building itself arrives in the coming weeks.

“We’re gonna keep an eye on the state of our costs when it comes to things like fuel budget and services that we can deliver without having to spend a whole bunch of extra money to do it,” Schmalz said.

nigel.maxwell@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @nigelmaxwell

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