A Moment with the Mayor: 2022 municipal budget time

City Council had the opportunity to see the proposed 2022 budget for the first time on November 10.

Our City administration team starts building a business plan annually in May to support City Council’s strategic plan for the city as an organization and the community. The next part of the process is Senior Administration reviewing and downsizing the budget as demands and needs are greater than resources available.

One area of the budget that will require additional funds is Protective Services. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) recently settled wage discussions with the Treasury Board of Canada. RCMP members have had a salary freeze since 2016, and the recent negotiations resulted in a significant cost increase for policing services.

As a municipality, we have a contract with the RCMP to provide protective services for our community. We’re facing a 6 per cent increase in budget expenses to cover the negotiated increase.

Our local producers and service companies and the federal and provincial coffers welcome the recent increase in the world oil price. The negative of this increase will be felt by all of us personally and through the rising energy costs at the gas pumps, our heating bills and facility operating costs across the city. We all continue to face the rising cost of inflation.

Some of the costs I have mentioned we experience directly, and some are passed on to the consumer through increased costs of goods and services. Depending on the day of the week, or month we’re seeing a 2.7-3 per cent increase in inflation.

Thank you to those who took the time to share your thoughts and provide input during the annual budget survey. The capital work around the city will be less in 2022 due to provincial grant reductions for these projects. We’ll endeavour to continue to address street repair and water and sewer replacement.

City Council and Administration are working together to maintain programs and services for 2022 and keep budget increases to a minimum as best we can.

Mayor Gerald S. Aalbers
City of Lloydminster