At Lethbridge City Council’s last session of the year, councillors approved the proposed 2019-2022 operating budget on Monday.
The new budget includes an average increase to residential property tax of 1.82 per cent a year, for the next four years.
That increase will mean residents living in an average single-family home will pay about $42 more per year.
The city’s finance committee initially proposed a 1.6-per-cent-increase, but the approval of new initiatives, including more funding for the Lethbridge Police Service, saw that number rise.
“We listened to the citizens and we listened to the downtown businesses and we wanted to focus on community safety, so those were the initiatives that were approved,” Mayor Chris Spearman said. “We have eight collective agreements, we have negotiated contracts that we have to honour, and it’s very difficult to lower costs.”
Council did choose to reduce some funding requests from four years down to one or two, asking for more information from a fiscal performance review before further funding is considered.
Councillors Blaine Hyggen and Joe Mauro were the two councillors who voted against approving the 1.82-per-cent-increase.
“As council, we have approved this budget,” Hyggen said. “There was some frustrations, but I do respect council and their decision to move forward with this budget.”
This is the lowest percentage increase passed in the last 20 years.
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