Georgina has no intention of levying ‘scary’ tax increase

YorkRegion.com
Feb. 5, 2015
By Heidi Riedner

Council’s first look at an almost $58-million capital and operating 2015 draft budget in advance of its potential Feb. 25 adoption came with an 8.5-per-cent increase to the property tax levy over last year.

With all three portions of the tax bill combined, that would mean an extra $190 in property taxes per average household assessed at $295,100.

But town staff and council have no intention of levying what Mayor Margaret Quirk called “a scary number” against the taxpayer.

“The total number of 8.5 per cent that is reflected in that document is not the staff proposed budget,” town CAO Winanne Grant told council last week.

It embodies all the projects and priorities that staff feel council should consider in 2015 to determine what things will remain on the docket as priorities and policy direction and what items can be deferred, she added.

“We are not intending on Feb. 25 that we are going to be announcing an 8.5-per-cent tax increase.”

But a high-level summary did point out that it would take an increase of 2.5 per cent for the town to provide the same level of service in 2015 as in 2014, without factoring in any new initiatives or enhanced service levels.

A first crack at the budget that includes every potential project and initiative totalling almost $58 million is broken down between $14.8 million for capital, a $5.7 million contribution to the town’s own reserve funds and $37 million for operations.

About half of the $37 million operations budget, as it stands now, is for labour costs - wages, salaries, benefits, mileage and associated costs, town treasurer Rebecca Mathewson said.

But that is typical in municipal government since it is the people who are making those services happen, Mathewson said.

The town keeps 47 cents of every tax dollar collected, with 17 cents going to the school boards and 36 cents to the Region of York.

Operations and engineering, fire and emergency services and recreation and culture comprise the top three slices of Georgina’s 2015 budgetary pie in terms of per dollar spending, which is consistent with funding allocations in past budgets going back to 2011.

The past few years have also seen the town steadily increasing its reserve funds.

The town anticipates $18 million in reserve funds by the end of 2015, based on current estimates, which exceeds the provincial median, Mathewson said.

The town’s recently completed asset management plan identified an annual funding gap of $2.5 million based on replacement values.

“It’s not insurmountable, but that’s a lot of money and quite a challenge to incorporate into an annual budget for a municipality of this size,” Mathewson said.

Until the 2015 budget is adopted, the public is invited to provide input, comments and questions at all council meetings.

“We are trying to be as participatory as we can with the public,” Grant said.

Budget deliberations scheduled for Feb. 10 and 11 will be where “fulsome discussion” of the town’s priorities and various funding options will take place, Grant added.

The draft budget is posted on the town’s website.

Copies are also available at each of Georgina’s three public libraries.