An $11.4 million budget is being proposed for the Town of Altona in 2021, up from the $10.65 million spent in 2020.

Finance committee chair, Curt Letkeman, explains the slight increase is due to a pair of big ticket infrastructure items on the books for the coming year.

"We have the downtown drainage item that's been in the plans for a number of years, as well as the Industrial Park expansion," noted Letkeman. "So, we've had some money in reserves and some funding that we've secured from the (provincial) government, as well as some long term borrowing that we're hoping to do, so the actual year-over-year spending that we're planning will be pretty stable from 2020 to 2021."

Meantime, rate payers can expect a break on their property taxes for 2021.

Council has opted to hold the line on taxes and will be maintaining the 2020 mill rate of 19.78 into 2021.

"Our administrative staff have done a great job of looking for areas that they feel we can perhaps save a little money, and Council has been creative in coming up with ideas," explained Letkeman. "We want to work with the residents of the community who have been impacted by COVID-19 and the pandemic, and so we've held taxes flat."

In fact, with changes to the Town's waste collection agreement, rate payers can even anticipate a slight decrease in their tax bills for the coming year.

The impact will vary by resident or business depending on whether there were any changes in property assessment values.

For example, a residential property valued at $200,000 will see a decrease of $57.60. Commercial properties worth $200,000 will see a reduction of about $145.80, and farmland worth $200,000 will see a $23.11 drop in taxes.

Click here to view the full Town of Altona 2021 financial plan.

 

Related articles:

Agreement Signed For Altona's Downtown Drainage Project

Altona Finalizes Land Purchase Agreement For Industrial Park Expansion