The Village of Halkirk has begun discussing its 2022 capital spending plan.
While the viability review had around $500,000 worth of spending to be done in the current year, the village’s finances are unable to accommodate that funding level.
According to village chief administrative officer Tamara Sloboda $200,000 is more within what is possible for the village at this time.
One item that was approved for spending in the 2022 budget was purchase of automatic metre readers for the village’s natural gas system.
The new readers will be a $25,000 cost to the village but should streamline the process ultimately resulting in reduced staff costs.
Along with the discussion on the 2022 capital plan, the village council also discussed and passed a 10-year capital plan, a requirement of the viability review the village underwent over the last couple of years.
Provincial community engagement
The province has invited the Village of Halkirk council to participate in an engagement process allowing them to provide feedback on potential changes coming to the Local Authorities Election Act (LAEA) and the Municipal Government Act (MGA).
Initial municipal engagement being done by the province is being focused on councillor code of conduct which was changed in a 2021 MGA update.
The deadline for council’s response to the survey provided in the letter is July 11.
Alberta Municipalities
As a cost saving measure for 2022, village council voted to not send a delegation to the fall Alberta Municipalities convention this fall.
“We’re broke,” said Mayor Thomas Schmidt.
“We can pass it up for one year.”
The fall convention is seen by urban elected officials as a great learning opportunity, particularly for new councillors.
Whether the village attends the spring convention will be decided at a later time.