(File photo/paNOW Staff)

By Jaryn Vecchio

Budget Talks

City of P.A. looking at potential tax increase to raise next year’s budget

Nov 4, 2021 | 8:00 AM

The City of Prince Albert is looking at potentially increasing its budget for next year.

They released their proposed 2022 budget on Tuesday which currently sits around $75.3 million. This would be around $5 million more than 2021’s.

This would be a 6.6 per cent rise, the rate the City proposed for the 2021 budget before P.A.’s council voted to keep the budget relatively the same from the previous year.

At the time, Mayor Greg Dionne stated he heard concerns about the timing of the increase directly from residents as many were struggling due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“They made it quite clear that they have a strain. They appreciate what we did, but they wanted us to see if we could go further,” he said.

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To get to the proposed budget, the city is proposing a $5.8 million increase in taxes.

According to city documents, taxable properties will see an approximate one per cent increase every time expenses grow by $320,000.

As it stands, the budget is forecasting a $3.2 million increase in expenses.

Meanwhile, all city departments are looking at potential increases in their budgets with police services looking at the biggest rise of around $774,000.

The public works department is looking at a roughly $674,000 increase, while the fire Services’ budget would rise by nearly $138,000.

As for community organizations, the Prince Albert District Planning Commission is the only one currently looking at a rise in funding. They’re set to receive $20,000, funds they didn’t receive last year.

The P.A. Community Service Centre and P.A. Public Library each presented to the City’s council on Monday where they asked for increases in their funding.

Seven meetings have been scheduled in November and early December where P.A.’s council will look to finalize and approve the budget.

The first is set for November 17 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

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Jaryn.Vecchio@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @princealbertnow