Esterhazy council has approved the 2020 Operating Budget, with the mill rate to remain at 6.5 mills on the current assessment and the commercial mill rate factor to remain at 1.7.
The base tax will remain at $900 on residential properties and $1,100 on commercial properties.
“You never want to increase taxes if you don’t need to and there was essentially no reason to increase them because we’ve been fortunate enough to have a budget that did everything we wanted to do and needed to do for this year,” said Mayor Grant Forster.
The total budgeted revenue for the Town of Esterhazy in 2020 is $5,891,370 and the total budgeted expenditures is $5,862,210.
The town is budgeting for a surplus of $29,160 in 2020.
The bulk of the town revenue is from its tax levy of $2,785,000 in 2020 with water and sewer rates bringing in $810,000.
With the projected 17 per cent increase in Potash Tax Sharing Distribution in 2020, the Town of Esterhazy is set to bring in $49,196 more this year for a total of $326,150.
In revenue sharing the town will make $568,460, a $55,930 increase from 2019.
Last year Esterhazy received $308,401.80 from the gas tax fund because there was extra gas tax money available that was shared with municipalities. In 2020 they have budgeted to receive $147,620 from the gas tax fund.
The town will also be bringing in $245,640 from grants in 2020.
One of the largest expenditures for the Town of Esterhazy in 2020 is the $250,000 they’ll be putting toward the new water treatment plant with engineering services.
They also have a handful of projects planned with $208,600 going towards the Dana Antal Arena for upgrades to the roof, sound system, and change rooms.
“The arena roof was one we’ve been putting off, but it has to be done,” said Forster. “Maybe it’s a big expense, but if we don’t take care of it we’ll have a bigger bill from damages to the facilities.”
An additional $30,000 will be going towards the Historical Park to finish the lights on the path, line the pond, and upgrade the fountain.
In an effort to help beautify the town, $30,000 will be spent on a parklet, planters, and a sign corridor.
With future plans to upgrade the landfill, $88,000 will be going towards upgrades there with $50,000 budgeted for a compactor as well as $20,000 for concrete and $18,000 for a scale.
The town is set to spend more on street and sidewalk maintenance this year. They’ve budgeted $50,000 towards street maintenance, $29,706 more than last year. They’ve budgeted an additional $50,000 for sidewalk maintenance with $30,000 of it set for work by the daycare and on Main Street by the RBC.
The council will transfer $50,000 to the Decommissioning the Landfill Reserve, $10,000 to the S.N. Boreen Hall Reserve, $500,000 to the New Water Treatment Plant Reserve, $12,000 to the Swimming Pool Reserve, $90,000 to the Arena Reserve for electrical, and $5,000 to the Arena Olympia Room Reserve.
“We talked about doing something to recognize the fact that maybe our revenues might be down because of Covid-19,” said Forster. “But with some of the increases we have in the budget like the Potash Tax Sharing Distribution, we felt we had extra room and could take that money and use it to offset against lost revenue from Covid-19.”
Council concerned
with greenhouses
With Covid-19 keeping many members of the community at home, people are looking for things to keep them busy.
That in turn has kept Planning and Economic Development Director Tammy MacDonald busy as she says it’s been a “hectic week.”
MacDonald says she has sent over 35 building permits this past week with many people looking to do projects in their yards, house renovations, and general spring cleaning work.
The top reason people are calling her though? Green houses. MacDonald says members of the community want to plant and grow their own gardens.
The council agreed green houses can be a concern and discussed the potential of having a community garden.
“People are wanting to put up green houses in their backyards,” said Acting Administrator Mike Thorley. “There are certain regulations we have under our zoning bylaw that limits the number of buildings on ones property.
“If you’re looking to have a regular garden, there’s no restrictions,” said Thorley. “With green houses we have to worry about size and how many buildings you have on your lot.”
There was also a request made to move houses around in the community for discretionary use.
“There are three units that they want to move from a different area into the town, but put them on residential lots and have it as a secondary dwelling which we don’t allow,” said Thorley.
A motion was passed not to allow this as the council doesn’t allow for two residents living in separate buildings on one lot.
The council decided to hold off on building a parklet downtown that was planned due to the current situation with the Covid-19 pandemic.
Landfill scale
With future plans to become a regional landfill, the council has been looking into purchasing a new scale for the landfill.
“The council of Esterhazy is looking at every avenue we can when it comes to the potential of a regional landfill, but also to make sure we keep open for a longer period of time,” said Acting Administrator Mike Thorley.
The scale they’re currently considering has an asking price of $18,000 and they’ll continue to negotiate that price.
It is a 2016 one tonne scale for sale in Calgary that would qualify Esterhazy to be a regional landfill.
“We’re looking at purchasing a scale that will work at the landfill site and then potentially we’ll be looking at expanding our landfill site to more of a regional aspect,” said Thorley.
As the Town of Esterhazy continues forward with this plan, they’re planning to have a major cleanup in the area.
A landfill must have a cleanup minimum one year before becoming a regional landfill.
“The last time the landfill was cleaned up was in 2002,” said Councillor Vern Petracek.
Landfill summer plan
The council passed a motion regarding their summer plans for the landfill.
Beginning on May 5, the landfill hours will change to their summer hours of Tuesday to Saturday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The council also added that they will set the first week of the summer as a free week at the landfill. This is to promote spring cleaning for the entire community.
Members of the community wanting to take advantage of the free landfill week will need to show proof of residence in Esterhazy.
Damage to landfill bulldozer
Repairs had to be done to the bulldozer at the landfill after damage was done to the electrical.
“We had what looks like rats or mice eat away all of the electrical in the entire unit so we had to replace it,” said Acting Administrator Mike Thorley.
The repairs have been completed on the bulldozer and cost $11,000 and the Town of Esterhazy is seeing if insurance will cover the cost.
Complaints about trees
The council received a complaint about the trees on the corner of Sumner Street and 4th Avenue.
A resident on Sumner Street said the trees look messy after some trimming was done by SaskPower.
“This is going to be an ongoing issue in the municipality,” said Acting Administrator Mike Thorley. “We’ve had problems with the trees from them being trimmed through the power lines and also the trees are getting older and rickety.”
The resident has asked that the trees are removed at the Town of Esterhazy’s cost, but the resident will pay to have them replaced.
The council all agreed the trees look “awful” and something should be done.
“We have to look into the potential of removing some trees if necessary or doing some trimming,” said Thorley.
Councillor Randy Bot says generally it cost $10,000 per tree to be removed and the area has about 10 trees.
A decision was not made, but the council plans to look into the cost and will return to the discussion at a future meeting.
Daycare taxes
The council passed a motion that will give the Esterhazy Community Daycare Co-operative a municipal tax break.
“We had a meeting with them and we are forgiving their municipal portion of the taxes for 2020,” said Acting Administrator Mike Thorley. “They’ve gone through some trying times and we had a meeting with them to understand their operations and we find it’s a big need in our community.
“Daycares only have so many spots and they’re running as best as they can, but they’re in some financial difficulties and any part of what we can do to help and assist them would be beneficial,” said Thorley. “We don’t want them to lose spots or not be able to operate.
“The municipality feels comfortable enough that we’re going to give them a reduction on taxes this year,” said Thorley.
Museum roof
The museum board requested permission from the council to replace shingles on their roof using money from donations given.
“They have fundraising money that they’ve raised over time from fundraisers and donations,” said Acting Administrator Mike Thorley. “It’s not the municipality’s money, it’s money they’ve raised themselves to do the work for roofing.”
A motion was passed to accept the museum board’s request.
