Budget making season has arrived for the R.M. of Morris. Reeve Scott Siemens indicated, coming into the process this year, Council is placing a specific focus on supporting services throughout the municipality.
"Over the last few years, as most of our ratepayers are aware, the R.M. has been fairly ambitious with a few residential developments and expanding our industrial park in Rosenort, as well, all with the focus of growth for the municipality," he explained. "We feel we need to refocus our energies on our services."
Siemens added feedback from ratepayers indicates they would appreciate the refocus.
"We are aware of, while their services may be better than some, they are also not as good as others," he said. "Again, being aware of what that might cost definitely factors into it, and our staff are working diligently to help us create a plan that we feel will work to the advantage of our R.M. and the residents."
Another significant part of the Budget 2025 discussion will be interest costs related to borrowing money to pay for work completed regarding the still open Disaster Financial Assistance claim from the Flood of 2022.
"We have had to delay our flood repairs by basically one working season, and it has definitely led to questions from rate payers and rightfully so," said Siemens. "We have done a lot of work as a result. It takes a while to process the details of each claim, and there are interest charges that get incurred as we have to prove payment in order to receive payment from the Disaster Financial Assistance program."
He stressed those interest charges have to be accounted for in the municipality's operating budget.
"So, that has a significant impact on our budget, as we have to now tax for that interest."