Budgets and Forecasts
Budgets
The annual budget consists of two components:
Operating Budget
- This budget covers the day-to-day expenditures to deliver municipal services and revenues
- Expenditures for services include recreation and programming, fire protection, library services and culture and maintenance of facilities, roads, water/waste water and parks and includes wages/benefits and administration
- Revenues are collected from user fees, building permits, development charges, interest and taxes
Capital Budget
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This budget covers one-time expenditures for municipal capital projects. It includes both new assets and maintenance/rehabilitation of existing assets
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The capital budget encompasses infrastructure such as roads, bridges, water and waste water as well as parks, playgrounds, vehicles and facilities
Funding for capital projects comes from a wide range of sources with the most common listed below:
- Development charges
- Reserve and reserve funds
- Debentures
- Grants
Budget Process
- The budget process draws information from historical data and direction from a wide range of sources such as various studies and plans, as previously approved by Council, and require hundreds of staff hours to complete.
- The budget is developed based on existing services levels, adjusted for growth, legislated requirements and inflationary factors.
- The objective is to be fiscally responsible in managing the Town assets and operations, while continuing to provide service excellence and community engagement.
Key Dates for Budget
- July - August 2019: Planning begins for next year's budget
- September 2019: Deadline for submission of capital budgets
- October 2019: Deadline for submission of operating budgets
- October - November 2019: Budget meetings, CAO and Director of Finance review with reporting department
- December 3, 2019: Special meeting of Council for Capital budget deliberation
- February 4, 2020: Special meeting of Council for Operating budget deliberation