Residents of Drumheller can breathe easy, after council adopted the 2017 Operating Budget which includes no increase to property taxes.

Mayor Terry Yemen told The Mail, “A few weeks ago I challenged Council to not only talk about helping the people of Drumheller but to put it into action regarding the 2017 budget. Council answered that challenge by implementing a zero per cent increase to property taxes.”

The Operating Budget is funded by way of property tax, operational grant funding, and various service fees. Administration and council had to make some hard decisions to balance the Operating Budget without an increase to these and without a decrease in services provided by the town.

Mayor Yemen said, “It’s give and take. It still costs the town of Drumheller “x” amount of dollars to exist for the year of 2017. That will mean that there will be less money going into the reserves but that translates into no tax increase for the people of Drumheller and I think that is quite significant.”

Councillor Jay Garbutt said, “The overwhelming majority of operating costs are salaries and benefits for town staff. These costs increase on an annual basis and yet we did not pass that increase onto the taxpayers in Drumheller.”

According to Mayor Yemen, dealing with the carbon tax that the provincial government imposed is a significant amount of money that administration and council had to come up with to keep the increase to taxes at zero.

“Take into consideration inflation at 1.6 or 1.8 per cent plus carbon tax, you could have looked at a 3 per cent tax increase right there but administration and council were able to bring it down to zero. The payoff is less money that will go into reserves.” Mayor Yemen said.

Councillor Garbutt said, “I hope people take away from this that council fully understands the situation that we all find ourselves in economically and that any break that we can provide will hopefully be well received. To do this without pulling back on services is a very difficult thing to do. It’s not a magic trick, it simply means we didn’t put more away for a rainy day than we had planned.”

    The Town of Drumheller has begun its search for a new Chief Administrative Officer (CAO).
    The wheels began to turn last fall when council approved a fixed contract between the Town of Drumheller and current CAO Ray Romanetz. Mayor Terry Yemen tells The Mail, the search has begun.
     He explains that council has already sent out a request for proposals from recruitment firms and as soon as next week, town council will be selecting a firm to assist in the search.
    “They will do a call out, and they have a stable of potential people and then will rate them with criteria established between the recruiters and the Town of Drumheller, and from there we will establish a long list,” he said. “With the coordination and consultation with the Town of Drumheller, it will be put down to a short list.”
    He said the range of cost to the town for employment recruitment is between $15,000 and $30,000.
 As the responsibility of hiring a CAO is Town Council’s, they will conduct the interviews.
    Romanetz has been with the Town of Drumheller for many years, with the bulk of his service as CAO. In 2009, he received the AUMA’s distinguished service award. Mayor Yemen is grateful for his service.
    “I have nothing but admiration for the man, the Town of Drumheller is very fortunate to have a man with his professionalism and his abilities and for all the years he has been here in Drumheller,” said Yemen. “(the next CAO) has very large shoes to fill.”
    He adds that Romanetz’s extensive knowledge of the Town of Drumheller itself will be impossible to replace.
    He expects that a new CAO will be in place before the 2017 municipal election coming this October.
    Mr. Romanetz has been with the town for over 35 years.