He’s been on the job for about a month, but the Town of Collingwood’s new deputy treasurer has long-term plans for Collingwood’s financial future.
For this week’s edition of People of Collingwood we spoke with Justin Weber, 30, deputy treasurer with the Town of Collingwood.
Q: Where did you grow up?
A: I grew up in Tara, Ont.
I went to high school in Owen Sound at St. Mary's and then decided to go to Kitchener to Conestoga College. I did the three-year accounting program and then bridged into a bachelor of business administration degree program.
Q: When did you first know that accounting was your thing?
A: It just kind of just fell into my lap.
Accounting was one of my electives in high school. I thought it seemed like an easy one.
It turned out it was the highest marks I got in any class in high school. I figured then it was probably the right decision for me.
Q: What did you do after you graduated?
A: I moved back home and got a job at BDO Canada in Owen Sound as an accountant.
I spent four years there. I primarily focused on auditing municipalities within Grey County. It was my first exposure to municipal governance.
When you're young, you don't really think about how municipal government works. You just think roads magically get paved and buildings magically get constructed.
Q: Did you know then that that was something you wanted to pursue further?
A: Working in finance and municipal governance is one of the few where jobs where you actually get to see a tangible difference in the community.
Working for private enterprise is great and all, but usually you don't get to see that.
Through the budget and other various endeavours during the year, I can see exactly what Collingwood does to impact the community positively, and it's a very rewarding thing to be part of.
Q: What made you want to apply for the deputy treasurer job in Collingwood?
A: Collingwood is a very interesting place. It's a fast-growing community. It has a lot of big-city amenities, but still maintains that very nice, small, rural-town charm.
As someone who's come from a very, very small rural town, it's something I appreciate.
Q: What are your first impressions of Collingwood?
A: From a financial standpoint, I think Collingwood is in really great shape. There are a lot of big projects coming down the pipeline. Everything is in good shape to be able to meet all those milestones in the future and still maintain positive cash flow without a heavy impact to the taxpayer.
Q: What do you bring to Collingwood as the new manager of finance/deputy treasurer?
A: Previous to this, I was the deputy treasurer in Meaford. I think my experience in Meaford has really helped to hone in on my leadership and financial management skills.
One of my main goals is trying to find that fine balance between not overtaxing, but still trying to get stuff done. Roads paved, snow removal – all those very important things.
We’re trying to strike that balance and look to the future to try and smooth out funding with strategies today that will help us 10 years from now.
That way, there isn’t suddenly a jump in property tax because we need to do an infrastructure project that we've known about for 10 years, but we weren't planning for.
It's all about just trying to plan ahead to minimize the impact.
Q: What are your hobbies?
A: In the summer, I love to try and get out golfing as much as I can. My wife and I love to go hiking. I understand there are a lot of great hiking trails in Collingwood so I'm really excited to come over and try a bunch of them out in the summer.
Q: Is there anything else that you want people in Collingwood to know about you?
A: I guess people should know that I always have the taxpayers in mind.
I always want to be fiscally conscious.
I've got 29 years to go in my career. It's a long time and I'm sure there's a lot of changes in Collingwood that'll come in that time.
I'm excited for the challenge.
For our feature People of Collingwood, we speak with interesting people who are either from or are contributing to the Collingwood community in some way, letting them tell their own stories in their own words. This feature runs on CollingwoodToday every weekend. If you’d like to nominate or suggest someone to be featured in People of Collingwood, email [email protected].