(File photo/northeastNOW Staff)

By Ben Tompkins

2024 Budget

Another five per cent tax increase coming to City of Humboldt and residents

Dec 6, 2023 | 4:52 PM

The City of Humboldt has proposed and now approved its municipal budget for the 2024 calendar year.

Residents will see a 4.58 per cent property tax increase and an increase to water and sewer rates of 5.2 per cent.

Although that number may seem high, it is nearly a full percentage point down from the proposed budget, which had a general property tax increase of 5.5 per cent, and is similar to last year’s increase.

According to the City of Humboldt’s mayor, Michael Behiel, that was as low as council could go to make sure the quality of services remained at least status quo and they stayed ahead of the curve.

“Although we wish we could have a lower number, we recognize that there’s not much more that can be trimmed, and we need to stay on course to ensure we do not have a repeat of what happened in the ’80s where we pulled everything from reserves to try to keep taxes down, almost bankrupting the city,” he said.

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“The 4.58 per cent is an acceptable number given the current inflationary increases we are experiencing in our operations and capital projects.”

Some of those inflationary increases include those specific to the city’s ability to maintain both roadways and utility capital expenditures.

According to City Manager Joe Day, Humboldt has recently seen the costs of replacing its roadways and water mains skyrocket.

“We did some research and discovered that the cost of materials, labour, and other supplies that go into our water main replacement, and roadway repair projects, have gone up by over 50 per cent from 2020 to now. If we want to continue addressing these projects, we have to put more money into them than we’ve ever had to in the past,” he told northeastNOW.

Nine capital projects are scheduled for 2024, while seven capital projects are budgeted for 2025.

The largest capital project that will proceed in 2024 is the Wastewater Treatment System Upgrade (lagoon project) which was previously approved by council in 2021 and is set to receive 73 per cent of the project funded through the Investing in Canadian Infrastructure Program.

Currently, the final cost is unknown but is set to be finalized once the tender process closes in mid-December.

Meanwhile, council approved six roadway projects and one stormwater project with a combined, estimated cost of nearly $2.6 million.

That will address the reconstruction of curbing, asphalt paving and sidewalks following the Water Main Replacement Program in 2023, which saw the replacement of a number of the oldest underground infrastructure throughout the city, along with other roadways projects and a stormwater drainage bottleneck near Sixth Avenue and Second Street.

Some of the unapproved/postponed projects include the request for a new community safety officer manager/EMO coordinator position and the development of a park space north of 16th Avenue.

“I think council saw the benefit of it, but ultimately, they were just looking for ways to keep the tax increase down a little bit and kind of hoped that either through 2024 or into 2025, we could provide a better case as to why we needed to add that,” Day added.

“I think in the context of inflation, the rising costs of construction, and those sorts of things, the community should be pleased with this year’s budget.”

To view the Approved 2024 Consolidated Budget you can visit the City of Humboldt’s website.

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