NIPAWIN — Nipawin council has passed their 2022 budget with a three per cent property tax increase.
Councillor Geoff Stewart called this year’s budget process “challenging,” attributing a 12 per cent increase in RCMP policing costs and a 20 per cent increase to insurance costs as the two biggest factors, in addition to standard inflation.
The 12 per cent increase in RCMP policing costs is to prepare the town’s budget around discussions of RCMP collective bargaining, which Harper said they “anticipate to rise.”
“I would echo Councillor Stewart’s comment,” said Lesley Richer, Nipawin’s chief financial officer.
“We do have salary and wage increases as per our union agreement to work in our budget and capital items to fund. There is a variety of things but definitely insurance and RCMP are two that we don’t usually see that large of an increase in one year.”
Capital expenditures for the 2022 year include the fire department’s new rescue truck, Jaws of Life, Highway 35 Â鶹´«Ã½AV sidewalk extension, half-ton truck, 12th Avenue pavement repairs, solar powered radar speed sign, Nipawin Evergreen Centre elevator replacement, Evergreen Centre boiler, Jubilee Arena Dressing Room Project, Hawks room furnace, Pinedale Park lights, skid steer snowblower attachment, Pool at Central Park pump replacement, Landfill Decommissioning Project, as well as the purchase of BARWA assets and liabilities.
These projects are anticipated to cost $6.2 million with $4 million being covered by grants and about $1.6 million covered through loans.
Utility projects are budgeted to come to $2.16 million with $387,309 covered by grants. These include fire hydrant replacements, water treatment plant costs, Highway 55 sewer main, manhole repair at the Gordon Subdivision, 10' circular trench cage, sanitary trunk assessment, Gordon Sewage Pumping Station upgrades, and repairs to the 3rd Street North lift station.
The water and sewer rates will remain the same as in 2021.
