Town budget deliberations start this morning at 9 a.m. for town council and for the first time they are being streamed live for residents to watch or view later.

The deliberations are expected to continue into Friday and, if necessary, resume Monday.

Mayor Jeff Genung says it will begin with a brief review of council’s priorities and the direction they set out at the beginning of last year. Then they will go through the budget, section by section, starting first with the operating budget.

Council will have the opportunity to suggest changes as they go and a tally will be kept of any proposed changes.

“The caveat is this, everything is on the table until the final budget is before us so we can see the whole package.”

The first draft of the town budget calls for a 3.6 per cent tax increase for the average home in Cochrane in 2019.

It’s the first time a three-year budget is being presented and it proposes increases of 3.65 per cent in 2020 and 2.95 per cent in 2021. These are tentative budgets, though, and will be reviewed and adjusted annually as deemed necessary.

Genung is excited to see the town go to a three-year budget a year before it is mandated by the provincial government. He even sees the merit in going a step further and producing a five-year budget because he believes each year cannot be looked at in isolation.

“That would give us a much bigger picture,” says Genung. “We have a 10-year capital plan so why would we not do a five-year operating plan?”

“For years, council would look at something in a small bubble of one year. It becomes a question of ‘How can we make this number look smaller for taxpayers and get out of this year looking better or feeling good about the tax increase?’”

“Really what you’re doing is passing on problems to later years.”

This budget will also be the first one that’s truly from the council elected in October 2017 and an administration led by Chief Administrative Officer Dave Devana.

“We’ve had a year to be in the seats, ask questions, get to know what’s going on in the town and understand how it functions. This will not be quick. We are going to do our due diligence, really tear this apart. I would suggest it will take all of the two days and even a bit of the third we have available to us.”

Among the key discussions is whether the town proceeds with transit.