It'll be $15.9 million in spending for the Municipality of Rhineland in 2025/26.
According to Reeve Don Wiebe, any increases are due to growing operating costs and the Municipality's first installment in a 10-year funding commitment to the Pembina Valley Water Co-op.
"Our operating costs are up over five per cent," he explained.
$2.86 million in capital spending has been earmarked for the year, however, but Wiebe was quick to note that all of it covered by a combination of reserves, and the general and utility funds. All this to keep the Municipality's debt load to a minimum, said Wiebe.
"Rhineland's philosophy is that we don't want to borrow money for projects, so we set up reserve accounts, build them up and then we buy equipment or things as needed from those reserves. By having reserve accounts, we also benefit from the interest rates that come with that."
Based on the municipality's assessment, Wiebe says they have the ability to borrow $47 million. However, Rhineland's current debt load is just over one million.
Included in that capital spending is $500,000 for a cold storage building for the Public Works yard just east of Altona. It will house the department's vehicles and equipment when they aren't in use, especially in the winter.
"Our staff is very happy with it because, when ice and snow get blown into vehicles, they are hard to maintain," said Wiebe. "Sometimes, things get really frozen up. Apparently, in one of the last instances, we lost a differential because of that."
As for what this all means for local tax bills, check out of the financial plan details here.