Meaford council is calling the 2023 draft budget’s proposed 7.1 per cent tax rate increase too high.
During a meeting on Jan. 30, council received a presentation of the budget from CAO Rob Armstrong.
Armstrong says the proposed increase would cost residents an additional $183 for homes assessed at $300,000. For homes assessed at $100,000, those residents would be looking at a $61 increase.
Additionally, the base budget would also see an eight per cent increase for both water and sewer services. These come with increased costs of wastewater plant maintenance, distribution and collection system maintenance, and increased capital funding for long term rehabilitation and replacement of system components.
Deputy Mayor Shirley Keaveney says while she understands how inflation has impacted the municipality and its residents, the tax rate increase in addition to the increase in both water and sewer services is steep.
“I think this council has got our work cut out for us to go through this budget during the two budget days and I know that we will chip away at this number,” says Keaveney.
She adds she is also concerned of the around 25 carried forward unfinished capital projects from 2022, valuing over $2.5 million.
“Do we really feel that we can complete all of these plus what’s in the budget? Just not thinking that we should come out of 2023 with another long list of capital projects not completed. That could have significant input into our budget deliberations,” says Keaveney.
Clerk and Director of Community Services Matt Smith says, they recognize the challenge of choosing which lines to change out of a 200 page report.
“Every time a member of council does that in any one of these sessions, the answer comes back to, ‘well if we delete that line, then that affects this line and that affects that budget,’ and things move and that is where frustration comes in on both sides of the table,” says Smith.
He says instead, they are going to try and do something different this year, by focusing less on individual lines for costs, and more so on the services.
Smith says they are holding a session on Feb. 1 for management to get together and create a list of levels of service in the municipality to assist council in determining where they would be able to save money.
Meaford will be hosting a budget public engagement session on on Feb. 8.