It was only Nov. 15, and Yorkton Council accomplished something unprecedented, at least within recent memory, it passed both its Operating and Capital Budgets.
Within the last decade Councils have pushed passing the budgets until near June, half way through the budget year, so to manage passage this early is a major accomplishment, in particular for City Administration which do the work behind the scenes to crunch the numbers.
Now not every aspect on Monday's passage was a good thing. The fact Council only gave its first public look at the document, and passed it on the same night means the public, Council's employers, have zero opportunity to have an input into the document.
While public input may not ultimately change anything in a document as large and detailed as the budget, there is an element of transparency to having the opportunity to have a say.
Council made the same choice a few years ago, and Yorkton This Week suggested at that time passage was made too quickly.
The same can be stated this time around, in particular given Council could have easily introduced the budget Monday, allowed local media to take details to the public, and then passed in at its Nov. 29, meeting, still a month before the budget year begins.
That said, this budget is likely to be generally seen as a good one by the public.
The increase of 2.5 per cent, or about that of the rate-of-inflation, has to be seen as relatively palatable by the public.
Councillor Les Arnelien, now a veteran of Council in his third term, noted it is the lowest increase in the last decade.
It is a moderate increase made possible by larger provincial grants, and property growth within the city which generates more tax revenues. Both are good news for the local municipality, and have allowed the city to maintain its capital spending, grow operational aspects of the budget, and still pass on only a minimal increase to taxpayers.
Mayor James Wilson said the increase is "very minimal", noting that toast and coffee Monday morning was more than $4, while the tax increase is only $2.93 per month for residential properties, a comparison which should hit home with taxpayers.
Getting the budgets on the books so early should have some positive repercussions for the City as well.
It was pointed out Monday that by passing the budget so early, again Arnelien suggested Yorkton is the first community in the province to make its budgetary decision, there could be advantages in terms of tender prices. It was reasoned that by having the option to post tenders before the usual busy construction season could result in better prices offered.
Certainly it has to make operations easier having a budget to follow from the start of the year. In the past departments were essentially working with year-old numbers, or educated guesses as to what the actual budget numbers would be for months before having an actual document to follow.
Perhaps Coun. Ross Fisher summed up the budgets best Monday when he stated, "I think on balance this is a good budget."
