Your City, Your Dollar- 2022 Municipal Budget
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What is the municipal budget?
The municipal budget prioritizes projects, programs and service levels based on anticipated revenues and expenses for the next calendar year. Essentially, the budget is a carefully prepared document to which outlines spending allowances while ensuring there are adequate funds available to support the municipal services for the community.
Within the municipal budget, there are two major components:
- The operating budget accounts for the day-to-day expenses for operations, such as program staff, facility maintenance, and utilities.
- The capital budget plans for the construction of new assets or improvement of existing assets, such as the wastewater treatment facility, Servus Sports Centre, and equipment used in operations.
How to fund the prioritized projects, programs and service levels is a challenging task that requires consideration of several factors, including the impact to ratepayers, the development of fair and equitable user fees and the evaluation of reserve balances. As outlined in the Lloydminster Charter, any shortfall of revenues at the end of the calendar year must be covered by a draw from reserves as the City must present a balanced budget.
How is the municipal budget created?
The municipal budget is created in a series of steps and processes, ultimately, it is City Council’s decision to approve the municipal budget that outlines the operating requirements of the city to provide municipal services. The budgetary process is repeated annually to ensure services are adequately met and that the community’s voice is heard and considered.
How are services funded?
Municipal services are funded through the following sources of revenue sources:
- Provincial or federal grants
- User fees
- Franchise fees and concession contracts
- Municipal taxes
Pre-planning the sources of revenue ensures there are no interruptions in service delivery for the community. Grant opportunities are maximized to reduce the dependence on the ratepayer. Similarly, user fees capture revenue from the individuals and organizations that use City amenities. Where as, municipal taxes fund general operations that benefit the entire community as a whole.
Annually, taxation bills are comprised of three categories:
- municipal taxes,
- educational taxes, and
- seamless educational taxes.
The municipal taxes fund essential services discussed throughout this survey, such as transportation, recreation and other municipal services. Educational taxes are established by the provincial governments (Alberta and Saskatchewan) to support public and catholic school operations. The seamless educational taxes are unique to Lloydminster and enable both school divisions to offer Alberta and Saskatchewan students the same curriculum and a seamless experience.
Survey
Between July 2 and September 6, 2021, residents were able to influence City Council’s decision! Throughout the interactive online survey, based on the 2021 residential mill rate, they were able to:
- add their 2021 property assessment value to see how increasing or decreasing service levels could affect potential 2022 taxation rates;
- draft, edit and submit a budget and compare against anonymous submissions;
- engage with other respondents through the feedback left on responses; and
- discuss their budget-related questions with City subject-matter-experts.
View the What We Heard report in the documents section of this page for a summary of the data collected.
How can we help you understand the municipal budget? What are your budget-related questions?