Often the central conversations about municipal budgets revolve around residential property rates. I’d suggest that we should have a much larger conversation about the budget.

In 2018, residential properties only accounted for a little over 50% of the total tax levies in Grande Prairie. They funded about 25% of the total capital and operating budgets. While it is very important for Council to be aware of residential tax rates, there are many other sources of revenue and factors which effect cash flow. All of these need to be considered when creating the budget.