Gauging by the length of time Okotoks council debated its 2013 operating budget Monday it understands it must take a hard look at its spending practices.
During its regular meeting on Dec. 10 council spent nearly four hours discussing the 2013 budget and the potential tax increases to homeowners and business owners.
In the past there was minimal discussion when it came to setting the budget and it was often approved with only minor changes.
It is reassuring to see Okotoks council taking a renewed interest in how residents’ money is spent. Taxpayers should be pleased to see council taking time to debate specific expenditures to see if they truly are essential.
One would assume this is how councils should operate, but in reality that is not always the case.
However, Monday this council showed it is committed to ensuring tax dollars are spent prudently and wasteful or unnecessary spending is eliminated.
In the end, council shuffled things around to reduce the residential tax increase to 3.7 per cent. It was initially expected to be 4.2 per cent.
However, it was not the ideal scenario. In helping Paul Homeowner council had to rob Peter Business.
Although council was able to minimize the residential tax hike it did so by increasing the non-residential tax by about six per cent.
Coun. Ed Sands said any deeper cuts would have resulted in significant impacts on staff, programs and the Town’s ability to provide what council deemed essential services.
Council may not have addressed all of the questionable expenditures, but hopefully this is a start to more prudent money management in the future.