(File photo/northeastNOW)

By Cam Lee

Budget deliberations

Humboldt budget deliberations continue

Dec 4, 2024 | 10:14 AM

The City of Humboldt is close to tabling its 2025 budget.

Deliberations continued this week as administration and council work to keep any tax increase as small as possible.

Mayor Rob Muench told northeastNOW the deliberation on Monday lasted almost nine hours.

“We had a lot of really good input from council and the new councillors had a lot of good questions to ask of not only staff but the other councillors,” Muench explained.

The operating budget was dealt with at Monday’s meeting and the budget is expected to be tabled after Monday’s regular council meeting.

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Muench said they started the deliberation on Monday with a 5.5 per cent tax increase proposal and managed to whittle it down to a proposed 4.58 per cent hike.

“Hearing from council, there may be a little bit more work to do there, so that’s something that we’ll find out in the next week or so,” said Muench.

He said council and administration try to keep tax increases as low as possible without affecting too many services.

“It’s never an easy decision for council and I think some of the councillors were apprehensive about approving it at this point, and I kind of agree with them on that point.”

Council wanted to fine-tune the budget before tabling it, but also the new councillors wanted some more time to study the document. Muench said the city used to wait until the new year to pass the budget but realized that doing so before the calendar flips helps staff put out tenders earlier.

“We can get into a favourable position with some of our suppliers,” explained Muench. “If you wait too long, sometimes they’ve got enough on their plate for the summer months, and we tend to get higher pricing.”

Muench said in the city’s capital budget they are doing an aggressive watermain and street repair campaign. The mayor said he hears all the time that the streets need attention, and he believes the budget addresses a lot of that. They also approved the finishing touches on the outdoor rink and sport court facility that will be opened shortly.

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Cam.lee@pattisonmedia.com

On X: @northeastNOW_SK