The County of Simcoe will be working to tighten their belts in 2021.
During Tuesday’s committee of the whole meeting, county councillors contemplated what would be an appropriate tax change for residents in 2021 in light of the pandemic, trying to balance resident needs for more social services while having less money to spare.
“Recognizing what’s been going on and the economic strain that’s been placed on our residents and businesses, the direction we gave to staff this time was to target a zero per cent increase on our tax rate for this budget and come back to us with what the impacts of that are,” said County of Simcoe Warden George Cornell. “There are some leverages staff can look at and they’ll bring that back to us.”
In the staff report, there are some COVID-19 effects anticipated to impact the 2021 budget.
In terms of savings, the county spent about $1 million less than expected on fuel, and about $500,000 was saved by staff using video conferencing instead of spending money on training, conferences and travel expenses.
In terms of additional costs, the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit costs are expected to rise by 33 per cent. Also mentioned in the report is a significant decrease in expected growth, which has led to a decrease in the amount of development charges being collected.
In 2020, the County of Simcoe's budget was $530 million.
“I recognize it will be a challenge, but I do support the direction,” said Cornell. “At this time, in my opinion, it’s the responsible thing to do. There will be some tough discussion there.”
For the 2020 and 2019 budgets, council directed staff to come up with a budget with a two per cent increase, which was accomplished in both years.
In the staff report considered at Tuesday’s meeting, staff did not recommend a specific tax increase.
“Given the situation that has arisen, we understand there could be needs in terms of providing further relief to our residents, so I wanted to leave that to council,” said general manager of corporate performance Trevor Wilcox.
However, councillors had a variety of concerns about how much COVID-19 would be impacting residents.
“The experts are expecting a seven per cent decrease in our economy, and if we were to get a second wave, they’re predicting a 14 per cent decrease,” said Midland Deputy Mayor Mike Ross. “Just to put things in perspective, the Great Depression had a 15 per cent decrease in the economy. We need to be very aware of what’s happening. If you want to put a number out there, I would say a 10 per cent decrease. These are going to be the most trying times of our lifetime to hit us in 2021 and beyond.
“I believe we have to do everything in our power to save as much money as possible,” he added.
Wilcox clarified that the federal and provincial government supports in place now were not in place during the Great Depression, so municipalities are in a moderately better financial position than they were in the 1930s.
“It’s a very difficult situation. It’s hard times out there for a lot of people. We’ve given exemptions for late payment on taxes and there’s a lot of unemployment,” said Oro-Medonte Township Deputy Mayor Ralph Hough. “I certainly agree that I cannot support much of a budget increase. I would suggest we start with zero.”
Bradford West Gwillimbury Deputy Mayor James Leduc asked if council consideration of the 2021 budget could be pushed back as much as possible to see more outcomes of COVID-19. He also said he would support a zero per cent increase.
“I think we need to see how the province and feds come out with programs in the future to help us fund. We don’t need to rush through this,” he said.
Chief administrative officer Mark Aitken pointed out to councillors that social services – which are overseen by the County of Simcoe – are more utilized by the public during times of trouble, specifically throughout the pandemic.
“As much as we’d like to keep our belts as tight as possible during this time, the reality is our operational costs for things like long-term care, social and community services and paramedic services – the things we do that help people at difficult times – are going to be very costly,” said Aitken. “I caution that if we do come in at a zero budget, we probably will be looking at cutting capital programs, because our operating expenses will be significant.”
Deputy Warden Barry Burton said he didn’t think a zero per cent increase was practical with costs rising.
“We would have to cut services,” said Burton.
Wilcox said the zero per cent increase was possible, but it would be difficult.
Collingwood Mayor Brian Saunderson said he’d like to see a one per cent increase, in order to maintain services for residents.
“Reserves are for rainy days, and I think this is definitely one of those rainy day situations,” said Tiny Township Deputy Mayor Steffen Walma.
“I’m concerned. I don’t want to say people aren’t taking this seriously, but sacrifices are going to have to be made,” said Ross. “I think we’re very naive to think they’re not going to have to take place. If we don’t start making sacrifices today, how is tomorrow going to look?”
Springwater Township Deputy Mayor Jennifer Coughlin agreed that some of the hardship needs to be endured now.
“I think passing on the hardship (is wrong). We need to experience some of the hardship ourselves. We need to make sure we’re not just passing it on to the next generation,” said Coughlin.
Adjala-Tosorontio Township Deputy Mayor Bob Meadows suggested that it would send a positive message to residents if county council and staff had a pay freeze in 2021. Wilcox said collective agreements with staff would have to be honoured. Meadows then asked if just council could have the freeze.
“If we’re going to lead by example, maybe we should set an example,” said Meadows.
However, a motion to that effect was not moved.
In the end, county council directed staff to come up with a budget that would translate to a zero per cent increase for residents.
Collingwood Deputy Mayor Keith Hull voted specifically against the zero per cent increase. After the meeting, Hull elaborated on his vote.
“The reason I voted against the zero (per cent increase) is, I asked (Wilcox) if information could be provided for a negative one, zero and one per cent (budget) because that seemed to be the flavour of the discussion,” said Hull. “Personally, I would have been more in line with Brian at one per cent simply because, at the end of the day... this is the time when people will be using the services the most. Inflation and costs continue to move up.
“If we simply have a zero per cent budget put in place, yes, we may help our residents for one year, but then the following year it could be four per cent because we’d have to make up for that loss,” he added.
The 2021 budget is expected to come before council in the fall.
