MARATHON — With a number of projects on the go, the town council in Marathon has been hard at work on their yearly budget.
In an interview with Dougall Media following Marathon’s regular town council meeting earlier this week, Mayor Rick Dumas said although the operating budget is still on the table, rate-payers should expect to see about a five per cent increase in taxes for the 2024 fiscal year.
Pressed for details, Dumas noted that part of the challenge faced by council and municipal staff is weighing any impacts the budget might have on residents and businesses against rising costs to deliver services.
“I know people always say, ‘that’s too much and five per cent is too high’. But, you go to the gas station and put gas in your car. You pay your hydro bill and it’s gone up. You pay your insurance costs and they've gone up - everything’s gone up. It’s no different for the municipality. We have all of those impacts facing us as well,” Dumas said.
“With that being said, we can cut and nobody wants to see it - but that means cutting hours, cutting services provided to the community. We try to keep those same services, same quality of life, but keep the cost reasonable. This year it’s going to be one of those years that there’s going to be a higher impact than there has been in the past.”
Dumas said the five per cent tax rate increase would likely amount to anywhere between $70 and $100 more in taxes.
There is also, of course, funding needed for several of the projects in development across the municipality.
One of the largest items on Marathon’s budget is the design and construction of a new active living centre for community members.
Dumas said the design and approval process for the new centre are going to cost the municipality around $2.8 million.
Staff are still working to determine where they will find that $2.8 million.
Dumas said they’ve had to cut back on some capital expenditures for the year and have been looking at the municipality’s reserves as a potential solution.
“There’s some money in our reserves that are ear-marked for other programs. We can either take that out and devote it to [the active living centre] or we can borrow from the reserves and then put that into the operating budget in future budgets,” he said.
The municipality is also seeking more government support, possibly to the tune of $30-50 million, but the $2.8 million needs to be spent first on finalizing a design for the active living centre before that tendering process can begin.
"The reality is we have to come to the table now and put money in, serious money. We’ve spent some money along the way, we’ve gotten support from the provincial and federal governments – now we have to get down to the nitty gritty which is design, the final phase of papers so it can go to tender,” Dumas said.
He added that the municipality is eyeing fall 2024 to have everything finalized so they can present their design and proposal package to the provincial and federal governments.
Other than the active living centre, Dumas mentioned there are still some other, smaller capital projects nearing completion – such as a new public works garage and the final materials needed to open Pebble Beach – but reiterated that the centre is the big focus right now.
Marathon’s chief administrative officer, Daryl Sworchinski, said staff expect the operating budget to be finalized by April at the latest.
In the meantime, Dumas pointed out that while the rate change could fluctuate a little between now and April, it might only change by a decimal (e.g. 5.4 or 5.5 per cent).
