Fine revenue totals rising

By J.W. Schnarr
Vauxhall Advance
jwschnarr@tabertimes.com

Municipal District of Taber coffers have seen a sharp jump in the amount of money raised through fine revenue, thanks to the correction of a clerical error.

During their regular meeting on Jan. 27, M.D. council heard from Brian Badura, M.D. manager of finance. Badura was updating council on December’s operating financial statement.

“Ticket revenue is up $45,000 more than what we budgeted for,” said Badura.

Before he transferred out of the area, Sgt. Tom Cooke of the Taber/Vauxhall RCMP discovered an error in the way some tickets were being issued on the M.D. grid road system which saw fine revenue from those tickets being funneled toward the Town of Taber. Since then, the correction has caused a substantial bump in the amount of fine revenue the M.D. of Taber receives.

The breakdown over the past several years is as follows:

2012: $19,000;
2013: $46,000; and
2014: $85,000.

Division 5 Coun. Bob Wallace said the increase in revenue is not to due to more tickets being written as much as it is about a change the M.D. was alerted to, and this has probably caused a similar drop in revenue in the town, though it is difficult to track where the tickets were written.

“An increase in our side is a decrease on the Town of Taber’s side,” he said.

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