The Town of Bonnyville has a plan…sort of. Town Council met Tuesday to hash out the 2020 budget in town hall.
A balanced interim operating and capital budget are required to be passed by the end of this year and the town council is going with deferments and transfers to balance the books.
$525,000 will come out of the town’s operating reserve while projects like a library expansion and infrastructure upgrades to the town pool will be put on hold. Councillor Brian McEvoy says the thumbs-up to this financial plan is not set in stone and can change as money becomes available to the town
“It really doesn’t matter what we do tonight, we’re going to have to revisit this. So we have a couple of options.”
One source of funding that has been a hot topic around the area includes the ID-349 agreement from the province. Mayor Gene Sobolewski says a meeting on December 16th might shed some light on if that money is returning and if deferred projects can get the go-ahead later in 2020.
“If we use the word ‘defer’, and on the 16th we get positive news on ID-349, The motion we pass tonight would become moot.”
The final budget gets passed in the spring after tax assessments on properties are calculated to help set the mill rate.