Bow Island council passes interim operating budget

By Jamie Rieger
It was a light agenda at the Dec. 12 Bow Island town council meeting, with council passing an operating budget and passing a utility services bylaw.
Operating budget
Bow Island town council passed an interim 2017 operating budget at their Dec. 12 regular council meeting, a practice they have been doing for the past several years.
The move allows the Town to pay bills and payroll until the actual operating budget is approved, which will not be until after they receive their assessments.
“Under provincial regulations, assessors do not have to give their estimates until February,” said mayor Gordon Reynolds.
Municipalities are required to approve an operating budget prior to Dec. 31, according to the Muncipal Government Act.
Utility services bylaw
Bow Island will be increasing its water rates by two cents after the Highway 3 Regional Water Services Commission voted on Nov. 29 to increase theirs from $1.85 meters cubed to $1.87 meters cubed, effective Jan. 1, 2017.
Council passed all three readings of the bylaw last Monday.
Rogers lease agreement
Town council voted in favour of extending its term agreement and allow for the addition of a fourth extension term with Rogers, putting into effect a lease that would last until Apr. 24, 2017.
They also agreed to increasing the lease fees by 10 percent per term, starting in Apr., 2017.
The fee for the first term would be $5,500 and would increase by ten percent each term after that. The increase would provide $500 increase in revenue for the Town for the 2017-2022 term.