Yorkton Council passed the City's 2015 budget Monday, and it is a document which will mean a significant tax increase to local taxpayers.
The six per cent hike based on the combined impact of both Operating and Capital Budgets is certainly the highest in years for the city.
The combined six per cent tax increase means "An average home in Yorkton is currently assessed at $200,000 and a 6.0 per cent tax increase equates to $85.00/year," said City Manager Lonnie Kaal at Monday's meeting.
There are good reasons for the increase; the need to address aging infrastructure, and the costs associated with a growing city.
But there is a question which the factors leading to the increase in need for spending bring to the forefront; when will those demands stabilize?
Councillor Les Arnelien said Monday at Council he hoped the 2016 Budget would get back to more reasonable tax increases, in the three per cent range.
That hope seems rather unlikely given that each Budget must first deal with the cost of inflation hikes, which are likely to push costs up a couple of per cent a year.
Then there is the need for infrastructure renewal.
Yorkton has doubled the amount of funds dedicated to capital in the last seven years, but that does not mean it is near catching up with the needs in the city.
As an example, Yorkton Council has started work toward completely redoing Broadway Street, the underground sewer, storm and water lines, and repaving the surface. The project has a likely price tag of some $40 million.
The City is hoping the provincial and federal governments each come to the table with one-third financing, but at least federally the pool for municipal renewal projects is limited when one considers every municipality in Canada has need for renewal.
Broadway is only one street in Yorkton, with most of the downtown core the same age.
Then there is the aging Kinsmen Arena, the antiquated grandstand at the fairgrounds, the Farrell Agencies Arena which had little done to it in the last structure upgrade, and of course potholed pavement, and shifting sidewalks across the city.
The City is in the process of an infrastructure audit process which will ultimately show where investment is most needed, with an eye to when.
It should be anticipated the amount the Report suggests is needed will be tens-of-millions, and while we might hope for help from senior government, that help will not match need.
The result is the onus is going to fall to local government, and that will mean continued need for growing tax dollars, whether taxpayers are happy about that, or not.
