What a difference a year makes for Grey County setting its annual budget.
Grey County council approved the 2025 budget at a special committee of the whole meeting on Dec. 13 and the road to the 2025 budget was much smoother than 12 months ago.
Setting the county’s budget for 2024 was an arduous and challenging process that required a number of extra meetings and numerous revisions and changes to the budget before the final numbers were agreed upon by council.
This year, county finance staff presented a draft budget totalling $302.4 million for 2025. The draft budget included a total tax levy of $78,266,500, this was up more than $4.3 million over 2024. With new assessment growth ($1,921,009) the increased taxation projected in the budget was just over $2.4 million or 3.2 per cent.
CAO Kim Wingrove told council that county staff had taken a balanced and strategic approach to developing the draft budget.
“The 2025 budget reflects our commitment to investing in critical infrastructure and delivering high-quality services to our community,” said Wingrove.
The CAO noted that, for the first time, county staff were also including a sneak peak at the outlook for the 2026 operating budget.
The meeting featured various county department directors presenting their draft budgets to county council. The full operating budget document can be found here.
Mary Lou Spicer, the county’s director of finance presented the budget overview and said county staff had begun assembling the financial data for the budget in September. The numbers were then reviewed by the county’s budget and finance committee in October and November. Spicer thanked members of the committee, senior county staff and members of other committees involved in the process.
“This is truly a team effort,” she said.
At the special meeting, council approved two items that added an extra $96,300 to the budget. This pushed up the tax increase from 3.2 per cent to 3.3 per cent. Council agreed to cut $5,000 from the budget for a sponsorship of a forest festival. Additionally, in closed session, council added an additional $101,300 to the tax levy, council did not elaborate on this addition and further details were not available at press time.
The budget means an annual tax increase of approximately $13 per $100,000 of residential assessment. The tax increase for county purposes would be approximately $38 for a non-waterfront home assessed at $289,000. This is in addition to the municipal tax increase if there is one.
The single meeting to arrive at a final budget is a stark contrast from a year ago. By comparison, the 2024 budget process kicked off in October 2023 with county council facing an initial increase of more than 12 per cent. After multiple budget sessions, council eventually whittled the increase down to 6.3 per cent when the budget deliberations concluded in December 2023.
In an email after the meeting, Warden Andrea Matrosovs expressed satisfaction that council approved an acceptable budget.
“Setting the annual budget takes months of preparation before a draft comes together. Council and staff take great care in setting appropriate service levels and making investments,” Matrosovs said. “The 2025 budget requires Grey County to raise $78.3 million through the levy. This increase of 3.33 per cent compared to 2024 keeps us on target for several strategic priorities with an increase at a manageable level.”
