Town discusses proposed fees and charges bylaw update
The Town of Strathmore Committee of the Whole discussed the proposed fees and charges schedule for 2025 during the Oct. 9 meeting.
Town administration was seeking feedback from council on the proposed schedule. Any changes recommended during the meeting would be consolidated and returned before council during the Oct. 16 regular meeting.
Approximately 30 per cent of the town’s revenues are derived from fees and charges authorized in the annual rate bylaw. These are reviewed annually and adjusted in order to better reflect changes in levels of service, increased contributions to reserves, or to recover costs of delivering programs.
Additionally, inflation rates are also taken into consideration when adjusting local fees and charges.
The proposed recommendation contains a four per cent increase to all water, wastewater, and storm rates for property and business owners.
“The other big public facing item is our rec centres – so the family centre, aquatics, (Strathmore) Motor Products Sports Centre – most of these had larger increases in 2024, like a four per cent increase, and for 2025 we are recommending a lot of them to stay as is,” said Riley Brolly, speaking on behalf of administration. “There are some rentals we are recommending to increase for inflationary purposes.”
Town administration is also recommending to add a 1.5 per cent additional charge for those who decide to pay for town bills and user fees via their credit card.
“This is no different than if you go to a small-time vendor or small business or something like that who, if you pay on debit or cash there is no charge, but if you are paying on credit, they ask you to pay a small fee to cover that cost,” added Brolly.
“What is happening right now with the Town of Strathmore is we effectively eat the cost of all the credit card fees charged to us by vendors; it was about $66,000 last year and it is trending to be even higher this year.”
This fee is similarly implemented in municipalities such as Medicine Hat, Chestermere, and Lethbridge.
The Town of Strathmore spends in the realm of $2 million per year to subsidize recreation in the local community so that residents are able to have regular access.
From 2023 to 2024, a significant cost increase was implemented on all-access family passes for Town recreational services. From 2024 going into 2025, another increase was not recommended in the updated fees bylaw by administration at this time.
No changes were ultimately recommended by the committee during the meeting. The proposed fees and charges bylaw will return before council Oct. 16.