Financial - Reserve Management

Managing reserve accounts is an important tool in order to fund future projects.

With an updated Reserve Management Policy, Council will have the opportunity to help fund future recreation projects with a dedicated Recreation Reserve. Grants for these types of projects diminish year by year, so having saved funds is extremely important.

A recreation reserve would allow council to fund all types of recreation. Baseball Fields, Soccer Fields, Skatepark, Disc Golf, Pickleball, Tennis, Hockey, Curling, Lacrosse, Basketball, along with less structured activities that allow all ages to access recreation activities. Recreation infrastructure is expensive, and it is also what provides us with the physical activity that adds to the quality of life we enjoy in High River.

Municipal Borrowing for these projects has its downfalls, as the primary place for municipalities to borrow from is the Alberta Government. The positive is a lower interest rate, but the negative is you are locked in for the loan term, with no option for early payout should a council want to clear debt to save interest. Saving today to have cash available tomorrow reduces the need for borrowed funds.

Currently, we have other reserves that assist with tax stabilization and future infrastructure upgrades needed for water and wastewater.

Restricted reserves that allocate money from Off-Site Levies to fund future infrastructure for increased development (eg: a new firehall) would always be kept separate.