Kneehill County is taking a phased approach to its 2023 budget process, and administration began the first phase of presentations at the regular Tuesday, February 14 council meeting.
The first phase of the budget, called ‘Setting the Stage,’ provided an overview of the various factors impacting the municipality, assessments and strategies to ensure ongoing financial sustainability, and budget pressures anticipated in 2023.
“This (budget presentation) is a phased approach for us; today we are going through what we are calling ‘Setting the Stage,’ and the new projects that will be brought forward for council consideration,” explained Director of Corporate Services Kinza Barney.
Administration brought forward the second phase of presentations, which reviewed the core Operating Budget and budget book at the February 21 council meeting, with any questions requiring more in-depth discussion or presentation to be brought back at the February 28 council meeting.
Following the February 28 meeting, administration hopes to have all components ready to put together the finalized budget draft for consideration at the March 14 council meeting.
This phased approach will allow budget information to be presented to council in a digestible format over multiple meetings.
Ms. Barney noted the budget is also being prepared in compliance with the Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) Distinguished Budget Presentation Award program criteria; Kneehill County was awarded the GFOA Distinguished Budget Presentation in 2021 and 2022, and has made an ongoing commitment to continue receiving this award.
It is anticipated the 2023 Operating and Capital budgets will be adopted by council in mid-March.