Town passes operating budget

By Jamie Rieger
Bow Island town council passed the first reading of their operating budget at their April 27 meeting, with it being revised to reflect a $27,600 loss from the provincial Grants in Lieu of Tax program, a program that assists municipalities with funds for buildings such as the RCMP detachment, social housing, provincial building, and post office.
“We are losing this funding, but we still provide services to these buildings,” said mayor Gordon Reynolds.
The mill rate for municpal tax is staying about the same as last year at 9.6975, but is going down for commercial from 14.3345 to 12.8779, primarily because of development at the industrial division.
“We have adjusted our mill rate/taxes to accommodate changes in the assessment. The commercial mill rate for businesses is going down because the assessed value went up,” said Reynolds.
Town administrator, Anna-Marie Bridge added that the lowering of the commercial mill rate narrows the gap between it and the residential rate.
“We want to have the goal of having those mill rates close to being equal,” said Reynolds.