Council took a deeper dive into a request in the 2025 draft budget for pay increases for all staff, discovering that Collingwood is lagging behind a few of its neighbours in how the municipality pays its staff.
During the committee of the whole meeting on Dec. 2, council pored over the second draft of the budget, which forecasts a tax increase of 6.96 per cent, down from the original proposal of 8.94 per cent. Although not included in the numbers presented that day, the town also received word this week that Collingwood’s OPP budget will be reduced by $1 million due to provincial funding support. This windfall will further reduce the standing tax increase to 4.52 per cent.
The subject of pay for staff generated the most discussion during budget talks that night.
“This continues to be a great challenge for the municipal sector. It’s what keeps CAOs awake at night,” said Coun. Deb Doherty. “There’s no question that there’s a need for us to review our wages.
“We’re also quite a bit behind the private sector.”
In the first draft of the budget presented to council members in November, town staff requested $275,000 for a pay policy review. The town’s customer service director, Amanda Pegg, explained at that meeting that pay rates for town staff currently sit at a P50 pay scale, which is lower than some surrounding municipalities and has led to the town having difficulty attracting and retaining staff.
P50 refers to the town’s pay policy for non-union employees and is set by council. It represents the data point where 50 per cent of the data points lie above and 50 per cent lie below, and is considered the middle of the market.
The $275,000 request would translate to pay increases for all staff, bringing them up to a P55 level to make the town’s wages more competitive.
During Monday’s meeting, Pegg provided more information, including that town staff have had a turnover rate of 12.2 per cent in 2022, 14 per cent in 2023 and 8.4 per cent in 2024, with her noting the average staff turnover rate for municipalities is about five per cent. Based on information collected during exit interviews, Pegg said about 50 per cent of staff said they were leaving due to compensation.
“We are seeing attraction and retention challenges across the grid,” said Pegg.
She showed that Collingwood is only comparable with Huntsville, Meaford (a market review is pending) and Saugeen Shores in sitting on the P50 pay scale. Owen Sound and Tiny Township sit at P55, while the Town of The Blue Mountains, the County of Simcoe, the Town of Wasaga Beach, the Town of New Tecumseth, and the Town of Bradford West Gwillimbury are on the P60 pay scale.
Coun. Chris Potts asked if there was a cost savings for allowing remote work, which Collingwood allows. Pegg clarified that no town staff members work 100 per cent remotely unless they are on an accommodation plan. She reminded councillors that office space constraints mean the town currently could not accommodate all employees in office, so allowing hybrid work helps alleviate those pressures.
“Hybrid work arrangements are common in the municipal sector. We are not alone in offering that option,” she said.
Coun. Kathy Jeffery expressed frustration with the situation, which she previously brought up during the first round of budget talks in November.
“There’s only so many people to fill these roles. I really feel like we’re working against ourselves as municipalities. We just keep upping the game and as long as we continue to do that, we’re going to put ourselves in a position where we can’t afford the number of employees we need to run our community,” she said.
Mayor Yvonne Hamlin agreed.
“Municipalities are shooting themselves in the foot by continually upping (the grid) like this,” she said. “In the meantime, we’re at the bottom and we’re losing people. This is very distressing.”
Deputy Mayor Tim Fryer said he wasn’t comfortable with making such a decision without more information, and wouldn’t support a pay increase moving forward.
During Monday’s meeting, council got a chance to discuss the capital budget for the first time. The entire capital budget this year is $130.9 million. However, only $2.4 million of that comes from taxation. The rest is funded through government grants, non-tax revenue, and reserves.
Items on this list through the tax levy include $130,000 for a parks, recreation and culture master plan refresh, $100,000 for seasonal washrooms at the Collingwood Amphitheatre, $50,000 for trail development, and $1 million for the Collingwood Terminals.
During talks on a $150,000 capital request for town hall refurbishment, Coun. Rob Ring asked if the to-do list could be tightened up by staff to reduce that request, which was passed unanimously by council members and will be included in the next budget draft.
During a conversation on possibly improving the sound and video systems at the Eddie Bush and Central Park arenas at a cost of $75,000, parks manager Wendy Martin said a preliminary scan had been done and it was going to cost at least $75,000 for both a study and the work per arena, so council would have to make a decision to perhaps only do one arena this year, or choose to do one part if council did not want to increase the funding.
“I think the priority is Eddie Bush,” said Potts.
Sue Nicholson, general manager for the Collingwood Downtown BIA, provided a short deputation to kick off the meeting to request the town supplement between $20,000 and $25,000 to make the part-time downtown maintenance position a full-time position, citing difficulty filling the role due to low pay. The part-time position is currently funded through the BIA’s budget, which is made up of taxes charged to downtown building/business owners only and grants.
During council conversation on the request later in the meeting, Hamlin asked if the BIA had increased the levy it charges to its downtown businesses and by how much.
“I just want to make sure those increases are as much as they should be, and that we’re not going down a slippery slope of wading into their obligations,” she said.
CAO Sonya Skinner also raised concern that the amount would not just be for one year, and presumably, if council granted it this year, it would be tied to the town’s budget moving forward. The town's treasurer Jennifer Graham said that in 2022, the BIA collected $450,000 in taxes charged to downtown business owners. In 2023 and 2024, the levy was $456,750 each year.
Potts and Ring both said they wanted to see more information before making a decision on whether to add the request to the 2025 budget, which was passed by a unanimous council vote.
“This could be a lot more than we think in the long run,” said Ring.
The tax levy alone, if approved at 6.96 per cent, would make up $43.5 million of the town’s overall budget next year, which sits at $198.9 million for both operating and capital expenses.
The town’s overall budget is made up of numerous income sources including the tax levy, payments in lieu of taxes, grants or government transfers, user rates, user fees, fines, investment income, and development charges.
In addition to the spike in OPP costs and a $985,000 revenue reduction from reserves, there is a $5.6-million funding gap for the renewal of existing town assets.
In 2024, council voted to use that year’s budget surplus to offset a major tax increase, with that year’s increase coming in at 1.67 per cent once the surplus was applied. At that time, then-treasurer Monica Quinlan warned councillors such a move would, essentially, push the inevitable tax increase down the road to 2025. Graham has said there is no surplus expected this year.
Any decisions made during a committee of the whole budget meeting will be reflected in the next budget draft, and are not final decisions. More items can be brought back or removed in future drafts up until the budget is ratified.
The changes in OPP billing and changes made by council members during Monday’s meeting will be reflected in Draft 3, as will the changes made during Monday’s meeting, which is expected to come before council members again at their committee of the whole meeting on Dec. 16.
While the town had hoped the budget would be finalized by the end of December, numerous factors have led to that deadline being extended. As of Draft 2, the expected date of final ratification of the budget is the council meeting on Jan. 27, with two more drafts expected before then.
