Town passes bylaw to update user fees ahead of upcoming budget discussions

By John Watson Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Town of Strathmore Council has passed third reading to Bylaw 23-29, being the 2024 Fees Bylaw, which addresses rates, fees, and fines for a range of services and bylaws. 

The bylaw received all three readings by council during the Oct. 4, regular meeting following lengthy discussion. 

By having a rate bylaw, administration described via the council agenda, it gives council a framework to ensure fair and equitable charges to residents.

Reviewing these fees, rates and fines on an annual basis also ensures financial sustainability for the town and its services such as public athletic centers and other amenities.

Town administration had recommended the town review and set the rates for 2024 fees in advance of budget deliberations, which will directly influence projected revenue to take into account for the upcoming 2024 budget discussions. 

Going into 2024, the majority of rates reflected by the Bylaw 23-29 will have an inflationary increase of four per cent.

“Looking at our Consumer Price Index (CPI) for 2022, actually was 7.2 per cent, and we had inflationary increases (in) 2022 of two per cent,” said Leana Ashbacher, senior manager of financial services. “2023 for the first eight months of the year, we are already sitting at four per cent … our finance team has worked diligently with every budget owner and reviewed in great detail all of their changes.”

Approximately 30 per cent of the town’s revenues are derived from fees and charges authorized in the annual rate bylaw. 

These are reviewed and adjusted annually to reflect changes in levels of services, increased contributions to reserves, recovering the costs of program delivery, as well as accounting for contemporary inflation rates.

Passes for families for sports facilities are an outlier among rate increases, as many of them, as indicated during the bylaw discussion by Coun. Jason Montgomery, are noted to be increasing between 25 and 30 per cent. 

Ashbacher clarified there was an effort put in to standardize fees across all of the town’s sports facilities instead of having fees “haphazardly” set between services.

“We tried to standardize them and ensure that we had a pass rate (so) if you were buying a six-month pass, you were actually getting a break instead of buying six individual passes,” she said. 

As third reading was granted to the bylaw, administration will implement the updates for Jan. 1, 2024. Rates that will be coming into effect are noted for public viewing via the town’s Oct. 4 regular meeting agenda.