Council Overview
Information from Drumheller Town Council
Regular Council Meeting
Monday, May 1, 2023
Drumheller Mayor Heather Colberg opened the meeting and made some opening remarks regarding the East Coulee Springfest, May 6 and 7.
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Drumheller Resiliency and Flood Mitigation Office (DRFMO) technical advisor Mark Steffler presented council with a construction services scope change for the Newcastle berm project for Klohn Crippen Berger. Council previously approved a budget of $245,126.50 in August 2022 which would cover 14 weeks of construction inspection and administration for the project. There were some delays in receiving regulatory approvals and access which has caused delays of approximately 13 weeks, resulting in an additional $179,684.50 excluding GST, which includes additional design scope, construction inspection, and vibration monitoring and property inspections.
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Mr. Steffler also presented a construction services scope change for the Midland berm project. Council approved $275,741.50 in August 2022 for the project, which was estimated to cover 16 weeks of construction inspection and administration. Delays have resulted in an estimated 11 weeks of additional work and an additional request of $146,628.50 excluding GST. Similar to the Newcastle berm scope change, this includes additional design scope, construction inspection, vibration monitoring and property inspections, as well as a water main break.
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Director of Corporate and Community Services Mauricio Reyes presented council with the 2023 Property Taxation bylaw. He explained this bylaw is based on the 2023 budget, which council passed in December 2022, and the 2022 assessment roll based on market value established on July 1, 2022 and the physical condition of the property as of December 31, 2022.
Residential assessment values increased by $33.1 million in 2023, representing about a five per cent increase over the previous year; non-residential properties increased by $5.5 million, about 2.5 per cent. Both assessment values increased mostly due to market value changes.
Mr. Reyes noted residential ratepayers will seen an average increase of 2.9 per cent in 2023 and non-residential ratepayers will see an increase of about 3.8 per cent.
The combined residential mill rate of 11.86862 is actually down from the previous year of 12.10984; the combined non-residential mill rate is up slightly from 19.15279 to 19.41480.
Council gave unanimous consent to hold all three readings and passed the 2023 Property Taxation Bylaw.
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Manager of Recreation, Arts, and Culture Darren Goldthorpe presented council with an update to the Community Assistance Policy. The current policy was adopted in 2018 and has not been reviewed since then, and several updates were recommended including defining eligibility and adding groups may only submit one application per year, and what items are and are not eligible for funding, along with simplifying the application and the requirements.
Council approved the revised Community Assistance Grant policy.
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Council adjourned the meeting to a closed session to discuss third-party contracts.
Complete minutes from council meetings can be found on www.drumheller.ca once they have been adopted.
