Dear Editor:
Recently, Hinton Town Council took a potential 9.7% tax increase and after two budget sessions enlarged it to what seemed like over 10.5%. Usually, budget sessions like these decrease tax hikes rather than amplifying them. And while much more work by council is expected on the budget, the current trend is not encouraging. So what’s going wrong?
We all know that these are tough financial times as we in Hinton are facing about a $2.8 million per year increase in utility fees, which all by itself would be the equivalent of a 20.5% tax increase ($830 per year for a single-family residence in March of 2026). And now this potential and additional $1.37 million increase in all property taxes threatens to impose a total financial burden of $4.17 million on all single-family home owners in town. So some tough decisions will be necessary if Hinton residents don’t want to face such increases.
As I’ve said before, some people can afford these kinds of increases. But they’re a serious burden for someone on a fixed income or businesses that suffered through COVID then the Jasper fires. And times are tough in other ways too; Alberta’s CPI has increased by 2.7% in the last year and the town’s population is down to 9,872 for 2023, a reduction of 2.37% in the last 5 years.
As usual, I’m looking for your input, both from local businesses and individual ratepayers. From my perspective, thus far, the town has a number of possible options:
- Maintain the current levels of spending on government services, social programs, non-profit and civic agencies. In the view of many people this puts negative pressure on our local economy because it causes the local government to grow at a faster rate than the CPI;
- Hold the line on current spending at the rate of inflation (CPI 2.7%) as a default, and require any government department to justify any expenditure increase above this level. It may result in hard choices such as moderating some of the town’s premium level of services, well above those of comparable towns (from levels of bylaw, other safety, administration, management, or RCMP staffing to our transit system, new staff positions, Family Service program levels, contracting out, etc.); and/or
- Examining internal government spending council could look at non-profit, social or other spending which amounts to about $ 1.5 million. Some of which the Provincial government should be doing anyways. (See Tough Decisions: Social Spending and Utility Fee Increases October 31, 2024 Hinton Voice for a detailed list). Many citizens regard such services as important to the quality of life in town.
I mentioned tough choices above. But remember: raising taxes and fees is a tough choice for those who pay them even if it looks like the easy way out for politicians.
Regardless of which of these ideas you might prefer, the fact is that local residents now have an opportunity to state their case. If you have an opinion about this year’s budget now would be a good time to express it. It’s your town. It’s your money.
Stuart Taylor, Member of Hinton Town Council
