Budget 2020

The most wonderful time of the year

Tuesday evening marked the start of budget deliberations at Shire Hall. For those with a short memory, during the last budget, council approved its largest increase in the County’s history, meaning County taxpayers paid $38.5 million in property taxes. The tax levy—the amount of the County budget property taxpayers funded—rose 8.62 per cent. It was a $3 million increase in one year, the largest dollar increase in the history of the County. Surprisingly, at the outset of the 2020 budget, staff is propsing a decrease of 0.64 per cent. This is before council makes any changes.

In July, councillor Andreas Bolik put forward a motion, directing staff to find 10 per cent savings across the budget for 2020. Marcia Wallace—the County’s new Chief Administrative Officer—put together a 2020 budget context report that identifies known challenges and proposed future actions to find efficiencies and improve services for County residents. “Although staff have been able to identify savings in some areas, other areas have substantive budget pressures,” said Wallace. “And the overall result being, this targeted reduction has not been achieved. At this point, staff are recommending a budget which holds current costs. The proposed 2020 budget is balanced, meaning no tax levy increase.” Her report does note that staff will be asked to continue pursuing other areas for efficiencies.

The total proposed 2020 operating budget is $56.9 million versus $55.7 million in 2019. This amount is offset by revenue from various sources totalling $18.7 million. Property taxes must fund the outstanding amount of $38.3 million, down just slightly from 2019’s $38.5 million. A 0.6 per cent decrease.

The total proposed 2020 capital budget is $12.1 million. The capital budget is funded primarily from various reserves and reserve funds ($9.8 million) with the balance funded by grants ($0.9 million) and debt servicing ($1.4 million). Prior to council’s final decisions, the staff-recommended budget would have an overall impact of a 0.64 per cent decrease on the 2020 residential property tax bill.

MODERNIZATION
There will be a big push to bring some modern features to the way the County conducts business. In 2018, the provincial government provided the County with a one-time unconditional grant of $725,000 that is meant to help rural municipalities become more efficient. Some highlights include a recreation and facility online booking system and an online public consultation tool. The booking system would allow residents to see which spaces are available and book them online, minimizing adminstrative time at Shire Hall. The consultation tool would allow staff to engage with the community on important issues, and garner the appropriate feedback. Other future modernization ideas include automated bill payments and establishing a public WiFi system in the County.

ROAD WORK
The budget forecasts over $6.7 million in capital funding to be spent on roads in the County this year. This is up from the $5.9 million budgeted in 2019. Some of the larger items are the reconstruction of Barker Street at $1.9 million, $765,000 on the reconstruction of Bowery Street and nearly $1.2 million on surface treating. The bridge at Black River will also be replaced at a cost of $1.1 million, with the funds being derived from the Gas Tax Reserve Fund. A Roads Needs Study will also be brought forward to council in March of this year.

WATER WORKS
It is an unremarkable budget proposed for the County’s waterworks utility. The forecast calls for a five per cent increase in operating costs for waterworks to $3.4 million this year, and a nearly four per cent increase to wastewater at $2.5 million.

It is a grim picture for capital expenditures where the utility is looking to spend over $3 million on upgrades at both the Wellington and Picton plants, and nearly $25 million to upgrade Wellington’s water tower, and upgrade its sewermain and watermain trunk to run down the Millennium Trail.

In total, the water and wasterwater capital budget is pegged at $36.8 million. Waterworks has only $1.9 million in reserves, meaning much of this cost, aside from any development charges collected, will be debt-serviced, and paid for solely by the limited number of County water and wastewater users.

TRUCKS AND SUCH
The County’s fire department is hoping for the approval of a new pumper truck at a cost of $397,000. It also forecasts needing to replace two more pumpers, in each of the next two years. As well, the roads department is looking to replace five vehicles this year at a cost of $185,000.

Budget talks are scheduled for the remainder of the week. The Times will have a full report on those deliberations in next week’s edition.