Council is done tinkering with the 2025 budget, giving their approval on Monday to have it proceed to their regular council meeting for final approval on Jan. 27.
If approved at council in two weeks, the tax increase for Collingwood residents in 2025 will be locked in at 3.18 per cent.
During Monday’s meeting, Coun. Deb Doherty again raised the issue of a pay policy review.
“We are behind the eight-ball in terms of our pay scale compared to comparator municipalities,” said Doherty. “We know we’ve already lost some key staff to other municipalities because, at least partly, they are being offered a higher wage.”
“I feel council is being obtuse on this. There are enough indicators right now that we’re approaching a crisis,” she said.
However, Doherty’s plea didn’t curry enough favour at the table, with councillors voting 5-3 to defeat a motion to bring the pay policy review back into the budget. Doherty, Coun. Christopher Baines and Mayor Yvonne Hamlin were in favour.
“What bothers me is, we’re only looking at what we can do this year to make this happen. There’s no regard for the snowball to the other years,” said Coun. Kathy Jeffery. “We don’t have a picture about what this shift would do to our entire financial picture.”
Coun. Rob Ring agreed.
“All we’re doing is putting it off. Once the increase is there, it will always be there,” he said. “There are two points of view on what the reality of this situation is, as far as I’m concerned. I’m trying to be fiscally responsible.”
Council also opted to adjust how retired debt is presented in the budget and addressed, moving it into the lifecycle capital reserve, which doesn’t affect the tax rate. However, adjusting how the moves are presented in the budget and on the tax bill will help the town be more transparent with the public when it comes to asset management.
“It will clearly show we have done this work and are committing to our lifecycle reserve,” said Treasurer Jennifer Graham.
The road to 3.18 per cent has been a long one, with the tax increase for 2025 originally expected to come in at 8.94 per cent, mainly due to a hike in OPP costs felt by many municipalities across Ontario.
With the province jumping in at the beginning of December with funding to help ease the strain on that front this year, the expected increase went down to 4.52 per cent.
More cuts and additions from council following that news – including eliminating a $375,000 request for legacy projects and eliminating a $275,000 pay policy review – have brought the increase down further to 3.18 per cent.
Additions in the budget this time over the last draft include $25,000 for the Collingwood Downtown BIA to hire a full-time maintenance staff member, $130,000 for the Georgian Bay Accelerator and $31,500 annually for 10 years for the Georgian Triangle Humane Society’s new Regional Centre for Pets and People.
Once Collingwood’s increase is combined with county and educational taxes, the blended tax rate translates to an increase of 1.24 per cent, an increase of 2.89 per cent over the previous year.
The town’s overall budget is made up of numerous income sources including the tax levy, non-tax payments, grants or government transfers, user rates, user fees, fines, investment income, and development charges.
For the 2025 budget with the 3.18 per cent tax increase, the town is expected to bring in $41.9 million in taxes next year. The entire Collingwood 2025 budget is $197.9 million.
At the end of discussion during their committee of the whole meeting on Monday, council voted unanimously in favour of the budget proceeding to council with a 3.18 per cent increase.
Council will consider final approval of the budget on Jan. 27.
