Budget 2019: Downtown Rehabilitation
Budget 2019: Downtown Rehabilitation

Budget deliberations are this week. Council will be debating whether or not to proceed with the next phase of the Downtown Rehabilitation….

Phase 4 centers on 100 Ave and 100 St. Council will be presented an option to do just 2 blocks of 100 Ave (from 100 St to Resources Road which is from CIBC to Co-op) or to do that plus two blocks of 100 St (from 99 Ave to 101 Ave which is from Wendy’s to Titos).

Aquatera would likely fund a portion of this cost, but at this time most of it would likely need to be financed through borrowing.

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Guest UserdowntownComment
Budget 2019: Revenue and Cashflow
Budget 2019: Revenue and Cashflow

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.

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Guest Userbudget, franchise fee, debt, fees, revenue, taxesComment
Budget 2019: Getting to 0%
Budget 2019: Getting to 0%

This week I published two very optimistic blog posts. One outlined my four goals: to increase funding for crime, roads, and Leisure Centre planning without raising taxes. The other outlined City initiatives that will help us better spend and target money. I feel very optimistic about the upcoming budget.

That being said, I also do want to acknowledge a challenge before us. There are added expenses and financial pressures in 2019 that did not exist in 2018.

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Guest UserbudgetComment