2016 operating and capital budgets Burlington Invests

NRU
Jan. 27, 2016
Leah Wong

Addressing the city’s infrastructure deficit was a priority for Burlington council throughout its 2016 budget process.  Monday it approved a 3.14 per cent increase in the city’s portion of property taxes, which includes a 1.44 per cent increase dedicated to infrastructure renewal. When combined with the Halton Region and boards of education tax rates, the result is an overall property tax increase of 2 per cent for Burlington residents.

“Like everyone else I would love to have lower tax rate increases,” Mayor Rick Goldring said at Monday’s council meeting. “But we can’t have lower tax rate increases at the expense of not dealing with our infrastructure deficit.”

Council approved a net operating budget of $146.119-million—around $780,000 lower than what was originally introduced by staff. While the Community and Corporate Services Committee found cuts to make, in the long run Goldring says the city needs to take a better look at how it generates revenue.

“We spend an inordinate amount of time looking for efficiencies and operating savings and we do that as a matter of course and sometimes we push the envelope to find even more than we think we can. And we should continue to do that,” said Goldring. “But we need to look at revenue opportunities that we can access. [We need to be] looking at our own operations and be more creative and see how we can generate more revenue.”

Burlington’s operating budget is organized around the services the city provides, with planning and development activities falling within the design and build service. This service comprises five units—community design and development review, planning policies, parks and open space design and development, facilities and buildings (design and construction) and building code permits and inspections.

Community design and development review has a $1.653-million net budget for 2016, which is a 7.1 per cent increase from last year. The unit is anticipating its review process may take longer in the future as the city shift s from greenfield development to infill and intensification projects, which require more technical review and public engagement.

The planning policy unit, which develops, monitors and reviews official plan policies, has a $651,160 net operating budget—a 3.5 per cent increase over 2015. The city’s official plan review is underway and the unit is expected to deliver amendments by the end of the year.

Facilities and buildings has a $702,264 net operating budget, parks and open space design and development has a $640,739 net operating budget. The budget for the building code permits and inspections unit predicts a $1.102-million net surplus.

Council also approved the city’s capital budget, worth $53-million in 2016. Around 77 per cent of the capital budget is allocated to existing infrastructure, while growth-related capital accounts for 17 per cent. In 2016 almost half of the capital funds will be used for roadways, and 16 per cent for facilities and buildings, the second biggest expenditure.

Stormwater management is also a priority for the city. About $20-million of the capital budget is allocated to address flood vulnerability and mitigation. This is a 41 per cent increase from last year. While it was not considered in this budget process staff is investigating the potential to introduce a stormwater user fee and the benefi ts of user fees for stormwater initiatives.