Morinville Council delays 2025 budget decision, revisits infrastructure building and tax hikes

By Colin Smith
There will be at least one more version of Morinville’s 2025 Budget after council made several changes to the draft presented by administration at its regular meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 12.
The adopted budget timeline had anticipated its passage at this meeting, with no further consideration of the document scheduled for future meetings.
A special meeting will now be called for the budget put on the agenda of upcoming regular meetings.
The proposed budget would have resulted in an estimated tax increase of 6.32%.
The 2025 tax on an average residential property, valued at $364,539, would be $3,304.91, or $275.41 per month.
For a commercial property assessed at $868,427, the annual tax would be $11,809.74. The tax on a $1,467,820 industrial property would be $19,960.89.
The original draft of the budget presented in September called for a tax increase of 5.75%, or about $19.95 for a residential property valued at $350,000.
This draft included budgetary support for the Community Sports Memorabilia Initiative at $14,500 and for the Centennial Fountain refurbishment at $14,500.
The Morinville Community Library funding request of $593,008 has been approved. In addition to its grant, a $550 deficit has been covered for Morinville Museum. A Star Ambulance request for $1 per capita in operational support was also put in.
In addition, funds have been budgeted for a water conservation rebate, extending Morinville Leisure Centre hours of operation, a regional contract, waste management education, and a tree program.
Two included items that were dropped by council are a water barrel program, $10,500, and $30,000 annually for website management.
The Facilities Master Plan, previously removed from the budget by council, was reinstated on a motion by Councillor Ray White. The plan cost is $130,000.
Much of the discussion at the meeting concerned the future of the town’s Infrastructure Services Building.
Replacement of the building was included in Morinville’s long-term capital plan, adopted in 2023, with the cost initially estimated at $6 million, later revised to $10 million.
The 2025 budget included $600,000 for the design phase, with construction set to begin in 2027.
On Oct. 22, council passed a motion transferring the replacement of the Infrastructure Services Building to 2029 from 2027, with the design phase also pushed back two years.
The draft of the budget presented to council at the Tuesday, Nov. 12 meeting called for $564,000 to fund repairs to the building that would address Occupational Health and Safety concerns and structural deficiencies identified by a consultant in 2021.
Another $259,000 was included for preparation for a site for modular office space to remedy a current lack of space and capacity of growth for the Infrastructure Services workforce.
Modular space lease payments over three years would be $123,000.
After extensive discussion, council voted unanimously to remove the site preparation funding from the 2025 Capital Budget.
A motion by Deputy Mayor Rebecca Balanko to move the $564,000 repair funding into the 2026 Operating Budget was withdrawn, and the matter set aside pending receipt of information from an ongoing condition assessment.