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Things are tough all over, and nowhere more visibly than in the municipal budget discussions for 2023.
Penetanguishene held a special committee of the whole meeting recently for the second draft of their annual budget, and according to CAO Jeff Lees, it was shaping up to be an incredible challenge for the newly seated council members in their new roles.
“Honestly in my 15 years in the municipal world,” said Lees, “this is probably one of the hardest – if not the hardest – budgets that I’ve been involved in, and half of my career has been directly involved in the finance chair.
“Ultimately, our senior team has made a lot of tough decisions over the last four months, and pushed this over to (finance director Carrie Robillard) to make it happen,” Lees added.
Staff were asked to bring a 2.25% net tax impact, or $263,500, to the 2023 budget talks, once estimated current value assessment (CVA) new growth had been taken into account. A departmental first draft budget listed the tax impact at 5.1%, which was whittled down over the months into the management second draft presented to the committee.
The potential 2.25% tax impacts for Penetanguishene were noted as: Operating at 1.65% ($194,000 increase); capital and preventative road maintenance at 0.43% ($50,000 increase); and policing at 0.17% ($19,500 increase).
However, it was stated in the draft report that “residents will not see an increase on their tax bill from phased-in reassessment increases,” due to pandemic deferral of the 2020 provincial reassessment not having been completed as of yet.
Said Robillard: “We talk about the consumer price index and the ‘basket of goods’ that affects every homeowner in terms of their annual costs. We’ve adjusted (the municipal price index, MPI) somewhat to reflect what municipal costs really are and what’s in our basket, and is impacted by inflation every year which is quite different from consumers or homeowners.”
As per their annual exercise, staff calculated the MPI as an estimated 3% in April.
“Knowing that we did have another year in our transition with policing costs and the loss of the (Central North Correctional Centre) recovery, we did include direction that… we would bring it (the 3% MPI) down to 2.25% with the assistance of our tax stabilization reserve,” Robillard noted.
Senior management spoke to their respective departments, remarking as a whole on the rising costs of all aspects of operations in the town.
Fire chief Paul Ryan said, “This will be my 23rd budget to this council in particular, and it is one of the toughest ones.” Benefits and labour constituted the department’s largest increases.
Public works director Bryan Murray noted the impact of inflation on infrastructure materials, insurance costs, and staff benefits; he noted that fuel and maintenance of transit were the cause of the 0.4% ($44,000) budget increase.
Director Andrea Betty provided a planning and development overview, noting that the legislative impact of Bill 109 would have the municipality refunding fees in the new year at roughly 80% of the time, by her calculations, for site plan applications and zoning amendment applications which aren’t decided on in a timely manner; staff were working to mitigate the revenue loss.
A spirited discussion revolved around tourism, with Mayor Doug Rawson advocating for the upcoming 75th anniversary of Winterama as the starting point to become the town’s major attraction, referencing how neighbouring municipality Midland had taken their Ontario’s Best Butter Tart Festival from nothing to success in just a few years.
Recreation and community services director Sherry Desjardins noted that financing the staff, time and resources would be difficult in the 2023 budget.
The meeting was lengthy, opening with presentations and delegations from numerous community groups and organizations all with their hands out for financial aid. Notably, their requests were only considered by the committee to be sent to the next round of budget talks, and not as an approval of the funding request itself; in that respect, none of the requests were turned down and all were carried forward.
The Penetanguishene Public Library cited serving a 12.4% population increase across North Simcoe and requested an additional $75,000. Council was mostly in favour, but Rawson chided their 18% budget increase as the rest of the municipality fought for 2.25% overall.
Community Reach promoted their transportation service to 800 regional customers, 40% being Penetanguishene residents, and requested $6,500 with no increase. Coun. Doug Leroux responded that their service was worth much more than their asking price.
The Economic Development Corporation of North Simcoe offered a presentation with many commitments and no increase to its $81,000 request, but Rawson pushed for a key performance indicator report that would provide statistics to the organization’s worth.
Other requests came from the Severn Sound Environmental Association, the Huronia Airport Commission, Culture Alliance, Georgian Bay Physician Recruitment, and the Penetanguishene Garden Club.
The municipality received two community capital grant program applications from the Georgian Bay General Hospital Foundation and from Sistema Huronia Music Academy, as both had qualified for the requirements. Deputy Mayor Dan LaRose commented in support of the hospital but not the music academy, of whom in his memory had not presented themselves during years of budget discussions to give explanation of their funding requests.
A single full-time staff position was requested at $31,000 for a dual role of harbour master and winter road patroller. The budget request from staff was aimed at moving away from transient part-time positions for the roles to fill one job, but LaRose spoke to the difficulty of trying to seek out a qualified individual so specific to the tailored task.
Talks ran into the evening when Rawson suggested that the capital portion of the discussion be moved to the next meeting, which was agreed upon by all.
A budget public consultation has been scheduled for Wednesday at 6 p.m. at town hall, and public participation is highly encouraged.
A link to the budget draft report as well as the public consultation presentations can be found on the agenda page of the Town of Penetanguishene website.
Archives of the budget discussions within the special committee of the whole meeting are located on the Town of Penetanguishene YouTube channel.
