YORKTON - The 2023 operating and capital budgets unveiled to the public Jan. 30, were both passed at this Monday’s regular meeting of Council.
While the dual budgets were voted on individually, with Councillors Quinn Haider and Darcy Zaharia opposed to the capital budget because of the inclusion of a public works weigh scale.
As a result, the bottom line for taxpayers is that the document proposes a 3.93 per cent increase in taxes, 2.93 of that going to operating and the remaining one per cent to capital.
The capital budget includes a one per cent increase in taxes, or roughly $267,000, for capital projects. This will bring our annual capital expenditure total to $4,910,000 for 2023
On a home valued at $215,00, the mathematical average in Yorkton, the increase will mean an increase of roughly $6.50-$7 per month, said Ashley Stradeski, Director of Finance with the City.
Stradeski said after posting the budget documents feedback from the public was limited with only about 10 responses via online forms, and he not receiving a direct email on the budgets.
When Stradeski presented the budgets in January he did suggest Yorkton residents would see at least some of the city’s fee for services rise as well in 2023 as another way to deal with increasing costs.
“This year is an interesting one. Just like everyone we’re (the city) facing huge increases in costs,” he said in January.
For example, inflation for the year has been sitting around the seven per cent or higher mark, and this affects all of the goods and services the City requires to operate, explained Stradeski.
Likewise, items like asphalt and other aggregates used in construction are up 15-25 per cent, electricity is up eight per cent and energy costs up more than 17 per cent.
And, high fuel prices (50 per cent higher or more throughout the year) affect many of the core services that utilize mobile equipment, as well as driving up costs of nearly every product the City purchases, he continued.
Such increases impact a budget.
At the end of the day, the total required budget has gone up; this is not due to increased areas of spending, but rather increased costs to do the same amount of work, noted Stradeski.
