Jasper budget delayed, council considering tax increase [Video]

Jasper council is considering a 4.9-per-cent tax increase made possible by reconfiguring the credits to the financial stabilization reserve.

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The final approval of the 2024 budget was delayed until the last meeting of the year so administration could work on the change. It also gives the municipality more time to hear from the Alberta government about recovery and stabilization funding.

“I would rather have the certainty that we’re moving forward with as many known facts as we can have, rather than succumb to passing what we may think is a conditional budget, but there’s nothing really that says it’s conditional on anything,” said Mayor Richard Ireland at the Tuesday council meeting.

Jasper council has been struggling with a budget heavily reliant on recovery funding following a summer wildfire that destroyed nearly a third of the …