The Town’s budget is a strategic document that supports the achievement of collective goals. Municipal capital and operating budgets are funded primarily by property taxes, user fees, other orders of government, and grants. The Town of Devon delivers many of the services our residents and businesses rely on every day. The budget outlines how these services will be supported.

The budget also states what capital projects are a priority for the Town. Capital projects includes things like new facilities. Many of these projects will affect community members on a daily basis.

Town staff begin working on the budgets over the fall months where each department reviews activities and plans for the year ahead. Town staff consider many factors while planning their budgets, including:

• The past year’s actual spending and if there is a need to adjust the operational budget
• Any new projects that require financing
• Potential new staffing requirements
• Infrastructure (equipment, trucks, roads, water, wastewater, etc.)

The Town is required by the Municipal Government Act to balance its operating budget each year, and Administration is always looking for ways to increase efficiencies. 

To balance the budget, the Town can either:

• Increase its revenue stream through raised property taxes and fees; or
• Manage expenses through adapting or reducing the cost of programs and services

Simply put, the money raised must balance the money spent.

The capital budget provides for the infrastructure requirements of the municipality as identified in our Asset Management Plan. The capital budget is funded through property taxes, reserves, development charges, debt and grants. The capital budget is used to either build or rehabilitate assets that will last for more than one year.

Capital budgets include costs and related sources of funding to maintain, replace and refurbish these kinds of assets over their useful lives. 

The operating budget provides the necessary resources to deliver programs, services and facilities services to meet the needs of our growing community and accommodates for inflationary pressures. The operating budget is funded primarily through property taxes, user fees and grants.

The Town’s operating budget includes essential services and programs, for example annual amounts to the RCMP and other services that keep Devon safe.

The operating budget is also used for services such as parks, recreation programs, snow removal, and road maintenance.

Under the Municipal Government Act, municipalities are responsible for collecting taxes for municipal and educational purposes. Property taxes are levied based on the value of the property as determined from the property assessment process. Each year, Municipal Councils determine the amount of money they need to operate their municipality. From this amount, Council then subtracts known revenues (for example, licenses, grants, and permits). The remainder is the amount of money the municipality needs to raise through property taxes in order to provide services for the year.

This revenue requirement is then used to calculate the tax rate. The tax rate is the percentage of assessed value at which each property is taxed in a municipality. The revenue requirement is divided by the assessment base (the total value of all assessed properties in the municipality). The tax rate calculation is expressed in the following formula:

The tax rate is applied to each individual property assessment using the following formula:

Your property tax contributes to municipal services, provincial education, and seniors' affordable housing. The municipal portion of your property taxes funds a variety of services that Devon residents rely on, including:

• parks, playgrounds, and pathways
• protective services such as police and fire protection
• year-round roadway maintenance, including street sweeping and snow clearing

Every time your street is plowed, your garbage or recycling bin is collected, or you visit a park or arena, you are witnessing your tax dollars at work. Municipal budget decisions set the funding for important infrastructure, programs, services and facilities we depend on to maintain our quality of life. The following is a chart that illustrates how your tax dollar is spent:

Managers and senior staff adjust their budgets according to the Town’s financial health, debt, reserve funds, inflation and as per Council’s strategic priorities.

Administration is always searching for ways to be more efficient.

While Council and Administration continue to work hard to be fiscally responsible, the next few years are gearing up to be more difficult budget years for the Town as there are multiple cost increases impacting the budget.

There is an increase in the RCMP contract cost due to overtime pay and rising RCMP officer salaries, that are passed on to the Town from the RCMP. This cost increase is out of the Town’s control as RCMP salary negotiations occur at the Federal Government level.

There are also price increases due to inflationary pressures that impact the Town’s day-to-day operations and larger scale projects. Things like fuel, costs for general Town operations, and contractor prices have all gone up. The costs to replace heavy equipment and fire engines have substantially escalated well above typical inflation rates.

With these cost increases, Administration will continue to make efforts to increase efficiencies.