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Approved 2022 budgets back for Council review

November 26, 2021 5:18 PM
(Red Deer, Alberta)

Last year, during budget deliberations, Council approved multi-year capital and operating budgets for 2021 and 2022. This year, Council will have the opportunity to hear a financial update from administration, and consider several adjustments being put forward by administration to address additional items that were not approved in the multi-year budget.

“The budget process in year two of a multi-year budget is quite different than any other our organization has done in the past. Rather than taking several days or weeks to review an entire operating or capital budget, Council will be asked to focus on only the significant adjustments that need to be made,” said Tara Lodewyk, Interim City Manager. “We have maintained a zero per cent tax increase operating budget, as per Council guidelines in 2020, meaning that any changes being considered would be funded through our reserves.”

The approved operating budget for 2022 totals $384.9 million and is primarily funded through property taxes as well as user fees and sales of goods and services. With a zero per cent tax increase budget, this means that no additional funding is required through property taxes, but not necessarily meaning that property owners will not see any changes to their property tax bills in 2022. Bills can fluctuate based on property assessments and the tax base, as well as Provincial requisitions collected through The City’s property tax bills.

Council will consider eight new operating items that will be funded through operating reserves. Three of those projects are one-time costs for specific projects, the remaining six will be ongoing as part of The City’s service delivery. The total value of these projects for 2022 is $5.422 million.

The 2022 approved capital budget totals $75.1 million and is funded through debt, operating transfers, grants, reserves and developer/customer contributions. Administration is putting forward three additional projects for City Council to consider, which will mean an adjustment to the 2022 Capital budget of $5.976M. All three are recommended to be funded through Capital Reserve Funds and does not impact our debt limit (tax and utility supported).

“In any multi-year budget, we anticipate minor adjustments during the review years to respond to external influences. The 12 capital and operating requests are essential to continuing to deliver essential services in our community, while also complying with provincial and federal regulations,” said Lodewyk. “Citizens will not see a tax impact this year due to these additions; they will also not see any changes to the overall service delivery in our community.”

Council will review the approved budgets and consider the recommendations being put forward by administration at their meeting on November 29, starting at 10 a.m.

“Last year administration brought forward a new streamlined budget approval process during our first multi-year budget, and we are looking forward to this year’s review process,” said Mayor Ken Johnston. “Our focus continues to be on community safety, social responsibility and being an economic leader. Our approved budgets are reflective of Council priorities, and we anticipate any adjustments being put forward align with these while responding to external influences.”

Please see attached FAQ (pdf)  for further information about the multi-year budgets, process and recommendations.

For information about the approved budgets, as well as full budget documents, please visit www.reddeer.ca/budget.

For information on property taxes, please visit www.reddeer.ca/tax.

For more information, please contact:          

Corporate Communications
The City of Red Deer

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