RM of Ste Anne has money to spend
Advertisement
Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 19/07/2024 (208 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
The RM of Ste Anne has more money from the province than it thought it did.
“We were aware that there would be a change to the operating grant but we weren’t told what; and as a result we’re encouraged to use the amount from the 2022 year, which would have been $400,000, as opposed to what had been given to us in 2023 which had looked like a one-time increase: $627,000,” explained CAO Mike McLennan during the June 26 council meeting.
The RM budgeted the inflation increase coming from the province on that much lower 2022 number.
“But we’re actually receiving $680,000,” said McLennan.
“This is coming as a surprise, a welcome surprise,” he added.
So the RM has hundreds of thousands in unexpected money. In this year’s budget, council chose to lower grants it gave out to avoid big tax increases. After pre-approved grants, council only had $6,000 to work with.
“So as a result of this increase in extra funding, if we wanted to consider some of these grants over and above what had already been budgeted, we have the funds to be able to do so,” said McLennan.
Council decided to discuss its options and who may benefit from this found money at its next committee of the whole. Its next full public meeting to pass any resolutions will be streamed online July 24.
While the whole RM had its budget go up, the LUD saw what it thought of as extra money from last year go down.
The $106,736 LUD of Richer year-end surplus was previously voted to be put in the LUD’s reserve. But the draft financial audit and adjusted entries puts the 2023 surplus now at $10,339, of which council voted to follow the subdivision dedication fee policy and put $5,317 in the recreation reserve.