West Perth Council had another look at what their 2022 budget might look like this week.
CAO Jeff Brick says the capital budget was done back in November, looking roughly the same as 2021, and the operations budget is still being sorted out. He says they will have a better idea of a potential levy increase on March 7th when the council comes back to discuss it, with around 1 million dollars in tax pressures that staff are trying to tackle.
“One of the things we’re struggling with a little bit is we had some cost containment last year related to the pandemic. As much as there were stresses, there were also some savings and we came in right around zero in terms of the levy increase.”
Brick adds that won’t be the case this year.
“I think we’re having a little cost pressure because of that zero last year. We’re not going to get to zero this year and we might actually be a little higher than we want to be because of that zero last year, but we’re working on that.”
Several factors are contributing to cost pressures this year, Brick adds, including some costs related to roads, COVID impacts, and supply chain issues. That said, West Perth council has some important projects they’ll be completing this year.
Brick says one of those projects, outside of the usual roads maintenance, is finishing up the municipal office renovations, which he says are right on schedule.
“It’s currently under budget or on budget still, and on time. We expect to have that completed in the middle of July, and we had that financing plan put together last year, which is some source revenue from reserves and things like landfills.”
Some of the projects may be financed by the municipality, but Brick says the hope is that the reserves that have been built up can cover the cost. Additionally, Brick adds that the other big project is adding a pavilion facility to the ball diamonds at Mitchell’s Keterson Park.
“We have a world-class facility there, and it needs a world-class pavilion. The project received grant approval from the federal and provincial governments through the Infrastructure Canada Program. We’re bringing in over $800,000 of support and then raising over $450,000 locally. That project’s in our work plan for 2022 and we’ll be ready to tender that project in the coming weeks.”
With respect to the upcoming baseball and softball seasons in Mitchell, Brick says the hope is that the pavilion can be built and finished this summer or early fall without disturbing the regular softball and baseball seasons in any way.
