Stonewall town council's approved its 2017 preliminary budget.

"Total expenditures will be about $2.5-million and we're looking at 2 per cent in added tax this year," says Lockie McLean, Mayor of Stonewall. "We call it a no-frills budget, in that we're not going to put any money into infrastructure this year with one exception, and it's a small exception. In terms of actual spending, we're building up our reserves. We're underestimating the amount of taxes added due to new construction, and we're doing that so we can carry a surplus into 2018."

McLean says they've pushed some street construction back for one of their newer main roads. "That road is unpaved in Stonewall and it goes through a newer development, and it's going to cost a lot of money to take it from a gravel state into one of the greater streets of stonewall. It's around $900,000, and we've set it aside for 2019. So in a nutshell, we've put off some other major acquisitions that were scheduled for this year because it really didn't make sense. One of which is the new fire hall and that would be a significant capital investment, and we're saying that it can't start until 2022. We'll start then because we will have paid off the debt for our new arena/curling club/recreation centre we built in 2001."

McLean is looking forward to the one large project they do have planned for 2017, which won't be charged to the taxpayers.

"We've got an abandoned rail line in Stonewall that's a Historic Rail Line actually, and we're going to finish it off. There's about a block of paving needed to finish it and we've tasked our Heritage Arts Manager, who's also in charge of Heritage Park, with coming up with a way where we can do it without taxpayer funding. Someway we want to turn the abandoned rail line into a walking path that gives a moving history. So every so often on the path, you would have a pedestal, and on that pedestal, you'd have a picture and write up, much like Winnipeg Beach's Boardwalk. Each pedestal will have a sponsor, and we envision this coming not through any taxpayer dollars whatsoever, but just individuals that want to sponsor the heritage of the town through turning this into a heritage trail."

McLean adds they've also delayed the purchase of a new pumper truck for the fire hall. "We want to make sure we get maximum use of the current equipment before we start trying to replace it. We're building up our fire reserves, and building up our other reserves too. It's just one of those years where we pause and put off any major infrastructure projects."

He feels council's done a great job with this year's budget and looks forward to building their reserves.