Corporate Services

Budget and Financial Statements

2021 REVISED Operating and Capital Budgets (April 20th, 2021)

Edson, Alberta, April 21^st, 2020 – Council has adjusted the 2021 Capital and Operating Budgets. The Budget uses a 1% tax increase from the original 2020 budget. This is down from the 1.9% increase in taxation passed in December.

In order to bring this down, approximately $107,000 from the Fortis Franchise Fee will not be transferred to the energy reserve this year.

With the taxation set, Council has also given three readings to the 2021 Mill Rate Bylaw. The Town of Edson’s overall taxable assessment has decreased by 3.06%. This is used to generate the taxation revenue and is what drives the mill rate calculations for Municipal taxes, School, and Evergreens Requisitions. This has led to a slight increase in the municipal residential and non-residential mill rates.

2021 Residential Mill rates:

Municipal mill rate – 6.0950 mills (2020 mill rate – 5.9026 mills)
Evergreens Foundation mill rate – 0.4531 mills (2020 mill rate – 0.4452 mills)
School mill rate - 2.6854 mills (2020 mill rate – 2.5099 mills)
2021 Total Combined mill rate – 9.2335 mills (2020 mill rate – 8.8577 mills)

2021 Non-residential Mill rates:

Municipal mill rate – 14.9624 mills (2020 mill rate – 14.1031 mills)
Evergreens Foundation mill rate – 0.4531 mills (2020 mill rate – 0.4452 mills)
School mill rate - 4.0157 mills (2020 mill rate –3.6006 mills)
2021 Total Combined mill rate – 19.4312 mills (2020 mill rate – 18.1489 mills)

Capital Budget

Council has also approved the 2021 Revised Capital Budget. The budget includes a few carry-over projects from 2020, as well as Vision Park upgrades, a new Well and Washroom facility at Vision park, and a number of other large projects highlighted below.

$1,200,000 towards road recapping projects
$1,900,000 in grant money towards storm water mitigation
$1,000,000 for a Degas Wellhouse and UV Upgrade.
$1,000,000 for a Sewer Outlet Pipe (covered by grants)
$100,000 towards 40th Street (6th Ave to Hwy 748) Design

2021 Operating and Capital Budgets (December 2nd, 2021)

2021 Budget Report (Full Document)
2021 Budget Release

Edson, Alberta, December 2^nd, 2020 – Council has approved the 2021 Capital and Operating Budgets with some minor changes to the Capital budget. The Budget uses the equivalent of a 2.5% tax increase from the original 2020 budget. In 2020 an emergency budget was put in place due to the COVID-19 pandemic to allow for a reduction in taxes for 2020 and set aside a fund to help in recovery. Some of that recovery money has been used to reduce the overall tax impact for 2021.

The 2.5% equivalent taxation increase will be funded 1.9% from taxation, and 0.6% from storm water management fees, which are being moved from taxation to the utility bills. The actual taxes levied on an individual property will be dependant on their property assessment.

This increase is necessary to start returning to pre-COVID 19 service levels, and to catch up with inflation following the tax reduction in 2020. The increase was limited to a 2.5% equivalent by reducing administrative costs and utilizing funds set aside from the 2020 emergency budget.

Highlights of the proposed changes are listed below:

Utilities

Storm Water Management Fee – A proposal was accepted to move those costs from general taxation to utility bills as it is a utility of the Town of Edson. This is meant to be a cost neutral change, meaning any charge added to the utility bill would be moved out of general taxation.

Utility Fees - The Town strives to operate on a cost recovery model for utilities. Under this model, as operational costs change it becomes necessary to adjust the rate to ensure costs are recovered. The presented 2021 Budget proposes rate increases and the following table shows what this would look like:

Utility	2020 Rate	Operational Increase	Asset Management Plan Increase	2021 Rate	Average Annual Increase (based on 20m3/month)
Water	1.11	0.07	0.03	1.21	24.00
Sewer	1.26	0.05	0.07	1.38	28.80
Waste Collection	17.50	0.35		17.85	4.20
Recycling Residential	9.00	1.00		10.00	12.00
Recycling Non-Residential	15.00	2.00		17.00	24.00
Storm Water Management (New)	N/A			2.00	24.00

Capital

Several capital projects were discussed for the 2021 budget including:

$1,200,000 towards starting a road re-capping project.
$1,900,000 in grant money towards storm water mitigation
$200,000 towards Vision Park Upgrades
$1,000,000 for a Degas Wellhouse and UV Upgrade.
$1,000,000 for a Sewer Outlet Pipe
$100,000 towards 40th Street (6th Ave to Hwy 748) Design

2021 Budget Timeline

Budget Timeline

The Budget will be adopted by Council in December 2020 and finalized in the Spring of 2021, as there are some items that are not known at this time. Here is an anticipated timeline for the passing of the Budget:

October 17th, 2020 - Council Budget Workshop. Video pt 1 Video pt 2
End of October/Early November 2019 – Council Public Engagement through an online Budget Engagement Tool
Late November, 2020 – Public Engagement Results Presented to Council and final budget deliberations.
Early December 2020 – 2020 Budget presented to Council for adoption
February 2021 – Assessment figures released to the Town
March/April 2021 – Requisition figures for Schools (AB Education) and Evergreens (Seniors Lodges) received
April 2021 – Revised Budget presented to Council.
May 2021 – Mill Rate Bylaw presented to Council, and tax notices sent to property owners.

2021 Budget Workshop Recap

Edson, Alberta, October 19th, 2020 – Edson Town Council held their annual budget workshop on October 17th, 2020. Administration presented Council with departmental operational budget requests, a capital budget plan, reserve fund updates, and a number of optional items for review. Council is considering a plan with an approximate 2.5% tax increase from the ORIGINAL 2020 budget. In 2020 an emergency budget was put in place due to the COVID-19 pandemic to reduce taxes for 2020 and set aside a fund to help in recovery. Some of that recovery money will be used to reduce the overall tax impact in 2021 so the increases required to get back to normal service levels don't come all at once.

Highlights of the proposed changes are listed below.

Utility Rates

The Town strives to operate on a cost recovery model for utilities. Under this model, as operational costs change it becomes necessary to adjust the rate to ensure costs are recovered. The presented 2021 Budget proposes rate increases and the following table shows what this would look like:

Utility	2020 Rate	Operational Increase	Asset Management Plan Increase	2021 Rate	Average Annual Increase (based on 20m3/month)
Water	1.11	0.07	0.03	1.21	24.00
Sewer	1.26	0.05	0.07	1.38	28.80
Waste Collection	17.50	0.35		17.85	4.20
Recycling Residential	9.00	1.00		10.00	12.00
Recycling Non-Residential	15.00	2.00		17.00	24.00
Total Residential		1.47	0.10		69.00
Total Non-Residential		2.12	0.10		76.80

Storm Water Management Fee – Discussion was held regarding costs for storm water management. A proposal was put forward to move those costs from general taxation to utility bills as it is a utility of the Town of Edson. This is meant to be a cost neutral change, meaning any charge added to the utility bill would be moved out of general taxation.

Capital

Several capital projects were discussed for the 2021 budget including:

$1,200,000 towards starting a road re-capping project.
$1,900,000 in grant money towards storm water mitigation
$200,000 towards Vision Park Upgrades
$1,000,000 for a Degas Wellhouse and UV Upgrade.
$1,000,000 for a Sewer Outlet Pipe
$100,000 towards 40th Street (6th Ave to Hwy 748) Design

A full list can be found in the information package from the meeting at https://edson.civicweb.net/Portal/MeetingInformation.aspx?Org=Cal&Id=392

Taxation

The proposed budget will use a 2.5% municipal tax increase over the original 2020 budget; however, individual tax levies will be dependent on property assessments.

This increase allows the Town to return to pre-Covid service levels and includes inflation and other expected increases beyond the Town's control.

This is a proposal only and both Administration and Council will continue to work on possible adjustments and recommendations prior to the finalization of the budget in December.

Public Engagement

Residents will have a chance to have a say in the budget process through the budget engagement tool being launched at the end of the month. This will be available at www.edson.ca/budget.

The engagement tool will take residents through the budget, provide information, and allow taxpayers to indicate their preferred allocation of tax dollars. There is also opportunity to provide general feedback for each department. That information will then be compiled and presented to Council prior to final budget approval.

For the 2022 Budget this tool is anticipated to be launched earlier in the year to receive feedback prior to the budget workshop.

In the meantime, the 2021 Budget Workshop is available to view by following the links below.

Previous Budget Recaps

Financial Statements

2019 Financial Statement

2018 Financial Statement

2017 Financial Statement

2016 Financial Statement

2015 Financial Statement

2014 Financial Statement

2013 Financial Statement