The municipality has approved its budget for 2020.

On Friday, the RMWB approved a $718 million Municipal Budget, which is a $36 million reduction from the 2019 budget.

$431 million has been allocated for operations, $191 million for capital purposes and reserves, and $96 million for committed undrawn debt reduction.

The approved budget is aligned with the 2018-2021 Strategic Plan and will focus on several areas.

This includes affordable living, downtown and waterfront revitalization, improving the region’s roads and transit network, maintaining core services and programs, capital projects and increasing financial support for community organizations and programming.

You can learn more about the Strategic Plan here.

In a release, Mayor Don Scott says the meetings were an opportunity to come together and discuss the community’s path forward.

“I’d like to thank all those who participated in this year’s deliberations. With your input, Council has passed a budget that will build a strong Wood Buffalo by advancing the region’s strategic priorities, reducing the tax ratio and supporting the local quality of life,” Scott said.

In addition, 2020 will see support for the Community Investment Program increase by $43 million – for a total investment of $77 million into the program.

RMWB CAO Annette Antoniak says the budget contributes to larger efforts of reducing the tax ration in a measure manner and with a fiscal plan.

“Since introducing zero-based budgeting in 2017, our budget has decreased by $162 million. I’d like to thank everyone who has made this possible, especially municipal staff who have worked diligently to find efficiencies and savings,” Antoniak said.

If you’d like to learn more about the budget, there are educational resources on the RMWB’s website.

You can see the 2020 Budget highlights sometime this week, at rmwb.ca/budget.

You can also watch all the budget meetings and view the approved budget documentation at rmwb.ca/council.