Council approves 3.93 per cent tax increase

Swift Current homeowners can expect to pay approximately $68 more in city taxes this year as a result of increases approved in the 2020 Swift Current municipal budget.

Council unanimously approved an increase of 1.75 per cent in their capital budget, and a 2.18 per cent increase in the operating budget. The 3.93 per cent increase, based on a home with an assessed value of $280,000, will pay $5.67 per month more in city taxes during 2020.

“In 2020 what we’re looking to do is ensuring that we’ve still got great services that we’re offering to our residents, and it’s making sure that we’re building a little bit for the future as well,” Mayor Denis Perrault said after the approval of the budget at Monday’s City Council meeting.

The Mayor highlighted that a few planned budget expenditures were postponed as council strived to keep the tax increase down.

“It wasn’t that we cancelled projects, it’s essentially that we deferred. We pushed things forward into future years. We are trying very hard to do the best we can with what we’ve got. We know that there’s an infinite amount of requests and a very finite amount of dollars. We also know that taxes are a fee for service, and the public nominally is getting great services in the City of Swift, I believe far better than many other communities in the province,” Perrault said, adding he is interested to see what larger centres are implementing for increases.

The 2020 budget’s largest capital project is a $2.7 million renovation at the North Hill Reservoir situated in Saulteaux Park. This project will address deficiencies in the existing system in order to improve water flow and water pressure in the Northeast portion of the City. Work to be undertaken at the site includes a building expansion, construction of a new wet-well, along with installing additional pumps with upgraded instrumentation and controls.