At yesterday's State of the District, RM of Dauphin Reeve Ernie Sirski spoke on some changes and projects in the RM this coming year. At the top of the docket: a shockingly low projected tax increase for this year.
Sirski said the RM is doing pretty well right now, so there's really no point in making things harder for taxpayers.
"Our reserves are in good shape, so some of the things that we're going to do are coming out of reserves. The other thing is that we have an operating surplus as well, and we're using some of that for enhanced drainage projects throughout this coming year. So with all that we've done, we've been able to keep our projected increase under 3%," said Sirski.
Though it's not official just yet, Sirski said he expects that part of the budget to pass handily. The RM's public budget hearing is approaching, where members of the public can comment on the RM's proposed budget for the year.
"Our public hearing is on the 4th Tuesday of the month, I think that's the 28th, is when we're having our public hearing, and after that if there's no objections, strong objections, or suggestions, we will pass our first resolution, our first reading," said Sirski.
Looking less at the RM and more at other municipalities in the Parkland, Sirski announced yesterday they've reintroduced the Parkland Regional Working Group, designed to promote much more interconnectivity and collaborations between municipalities in the Parkland.
"It's exciting to have all the municipalities get together once every quarter, we're hoping at least, just go over what's going on in their municipalities, not dissimilar to what we did [on Tuesday] with the state of the [district] addresses that we had, we're looking to doing that, and that just gives us an idea of what's happening in the entire region, all the way from Swan River to Dauphin," said Sirski.
Sirski said everybody benefits from a group like this. Better communication between municipalities helps not only at the municipal level, but with the provincial and federal governments too.
"It's easier to go in there from a position of strength with more than one municipality to see what kind of funding we can get from those 2 organizations," said Sirski.
The RM's public budget hearing is on Tuesday, April 28th at the Rural Municipality Office. Members of the public are encouraged to attend if they have any concerns or suggestions about the budget.
