Martensville’s 2021 civic budget includes a zero per cent increase in property tax revenue.
Martensville City Council adopted its budget for the coming year at a meeting on Tuesday, February 16. The budget’s $17.9 million in revenue is balanced with $17.9 million in expenses and represents a slight increase over last year.
Revenue from property taxes in the 2021 budget amounts to $8.25 million, the same as last year.
Martensville Mayor Kent Muench said council was determined to keep a lid on property tax increases because many residents have been severely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We wanted to ensure we were able to keep our 2020 property tax revenue at $8.25 million and not add an increase,” said Muench in a news release issued February 16. “We also thought it was important to approve a budget that maintains all facility rental rates, programming fees and water rates at 2020 levels.”
While overall property tax revenue is unchanged from 2020; individual property owners could still see slight increases or decreases, depending on their property assessment, according to Martensville Corporate Services Director Leah Bloomquist.
“We’re pretty close to finalizing our final assessment numbers from the Saskatchewan Assessment Management Agency,” said Bloomquist in an interview February 17. “We have to figure out how to set the mill rate levies to generate that same revenue from property taxes. We typically set the mill rates after the provincial budget is set, which is likely to be in late March or early April.”
She noted that property owners will receive their assessment notices once the mill rates are set.
Property owners can contact Martensville City Hall to clarify how their assessment will translate into property tax; and if they choose, can appeal their assessment within the time frame specified on their notice.
Bloomquist noted the city’s water and sewer department is operated as a separate “fee for service” department and is not funded by general property taxation.
However, the $75 base tax will continue to be levied on property owners in 2021 to fund a reserve for future wastewater treatment.
Work is also continuing on Martensville’s joint wastewater treatment and water distribution system with Saskatoon. Over the past couple years, Martensville has upgraded Lift Station 1; and in the coming year improvements will be made to Lift Station 3 to handle the expanded capacity. In addition, construction is expected to begin on the most significant part of the project, the actual line connecting Martensville and Saskatoon.
Martensville has also budgeted for the completion of a new effluent line from its municipal lagoon to Opimihaw Creek. The new line is a requirement from the provincial Water Security Agency to allow the city to continue discharge of treated effluent from the lagoon.
Bloomquist noted that while the budget was pared down as much as possible to keep a cap on tax revenue, the city was able to maintain city services while avoiding staff layoffs.
She said both revenues and expenses for recreation programming are down because of COVID-19 restrictions and decreased use of civic facilities.
The city’s 2021 budget includes investments of slightly more than $4 million in capital projects. Most of the funding for these projects comes from grants provided by senior levels of governments.
A total of $1.069 million is earmarked for road maintenance; thanks in part to $569,000 in funding from the Federal Gas Tax Fund Program.
Other grants for capital projects include $1.4 million from the provincial Municipal Economic Enhancement Program (MEEP) and $575,000 from the Safe Restart Grant. Both programs were aimed at providing COVID-19 relief funding to municipalities to help them invest in infrastructure and maintain service delivery while offsetting lost revenues from recreation programs and facilities.
Some of the COVID-19 relief grant funding received in 2020 will continue into 2021 and is included in the new budget.
The MEEP funding is designated for specific capital projects: paving at the outdoor rink, construction of a pump track at Kinsmen Park, installation of one set of lights at the Mocon baseball diamonds, and beginning the design and Phase 1 construction of an RV campground in Kinsmen Park.
The city has contracted with an architectural firm and a construction company to design the new multi-purpose recreation facility on the west side of Highway 12 and is committed to a fundraising campaign for the complex. The design is being reviewed by the construction company to give the city accurate estimates for construction.
The city intends to begin Phase 1 of a comprehensive Asset Management Plan in the coming year, provided grant funding is obtained from the Federation of Canadian Municipalities.
The Martensville Fire Department will be adding weekend stand-by pay for one officer and three firefighters to ensure the department has the necessary personnel for initial response to weekend incidents. In addition, the Martensville RCMP detachment will continue to be staffed at eight full-time equivalent members.