The town of Creighton is nearing the release of its 2019-20 budget.
Council members discussed a budget draft for the second meeting in a row, suggesting some minor tweaks from the first to the second edition of the document.
“There are some small changes. Nothing to write home about,” said Bruce Fidler, Creighton mayor.
Exact details of the upcoming budget were not made public, but Fidler pledged that council was planning on keeping the town’s tax rate the same.
“We’re working very hard to keep taxes right where they are. At this point in time, we’re not looking to increase. We’re working towards that goal,” he said.
The budget is likely to be approved by committee before the May 8 council meeting, with council likely to vote and approve the document at that meeting.
“If everything goes well, we’ll do it then,” Fidler said.
Strategic plan
Town councillors held what was expected to be the final deliberative meeting before releasing the town’s strategic plan.
A special meeting for councillors April 27 was the likely final hurdle leading up to the release of the plan, which has been in development for about a year.
“I’m hoping this is the last one. If we get a general consensus, it will be,” said Fidler, referring to the meeting and the views of councillors.
Fidler stopped short of giving an official release date for the plan or what exactly it may contain, but did say it would dovetail with the town’s budget.
“We’ll make that decision [on when to release the plan] later. It won’t be too far down the road, though,” he said.
Flin Flon, Creighton and Denare Beach have all begun the process of finalizing strategic plans summing up the communities’ commitments for the next five years. The City of Flin Flon released their own strategic plan on April 16.
Art showcase
The town will be getting involved in the Flin Flon-based Main ARTery project.
During the April 24 meeting, council chose to approve buying two banners showing art by area artists through the community beautification effort. While the banners will be mounted all the way along Main Street in Flin Flon, Fidler had a more modest plan for the town’s banners.
“We’re probably going to put them up over the tourism bureau,” he said.
The bureau is located along Creighton Avenue, with the banners highly visible from one of the town’s busiest streets. Main ARTery organizers have expressed hope that both Creighton and Denare Beach may soon mount their own art along their main streets, but Fidler said discussions of that nature had not taken place.
“We haven’t talked about that. We’re just going to put up these couple and see how that goes,” he said.
