Grey Highlands council has traded increased capital spending in exchange for a lower 2025 tax increase.
On Feb. 11, council held a special meeting to conclude the 2025 budget process. Going into the meeting, members of council were staring at a 16.8 per cent local tax increase, which equalled 10.5 per cent when blended with the Grey County tax increase of 3.3 per cent.
The proposed budget was not well received at a public town hall forum held last week.
Over the course of the four-and-a-half-hour meeting, council discussed and debated a number of potential amendments to the budget in an effort to lower the projected tax increase.
Of the suggested amendments, just four were approved by council and they lowered the tax levy by a total of $412,457.
The changes were:
- A budget reduction of $100,000 for a new ice resurfacer for the Rocklyn arena. Grey Highlands will instead seek to buy a used machine for $40,000 instead of $140,000 for a new machine.
- $11,000 for training equipment for the fire department was eliminated from the budget.
- $154,637 was removed from the tax levy for the Brackenbury Street and Lawler Drive stormwater management project in Markdale. That amount of the project, which has a total cost of more than $1.5 million, will be funded by long-term debt.
- Council also deferred $146,820 in spending on a stormwater management project in Flesherton. This represents half the estimated cost of the work. Instead, $146,820 will be added to the levy in 2025 and put into reserve, with the remainder of the project being funded in the 2026 budget.
This dropped the local tax increase to 14.2 per cent and the blended rate to 9.07 per cent. This means a $117 annual increase per $100,000 of assessed value of a home.
The budget narrowly passed in a 4-3 recorded vote with Mayor Paul McQueen, Deputy Mayor Dane Nielsen and Coun. Nadia Dubyk opposed. McQueen opposed the budget because he felt the tax increase was too high and needed to come down, while Nielsen and Dubyk did not support the capital spending reductions council approved during the meeting.
With Coun. Tom Allwood in the chair for the meeting, it meant that McQueen and Nielsen were sitting side-by-side during the proceedings. Although they were sitting next to each other, their viewpoints were at odds throughout the meeting.
“We have a 16.8 per cent budget increase,” McQueen said early in the meeting. “I have not had one person say: that’s a good spot Mr. Mayor. We have to make some choices here today folks.”
At the other end of the spectrum, Nielsen said the reduction in capital spending to lower the 2025 tax increase was going to come back to haunt council and the municipality as a whole.
“The objective here (today) is to soften the blow. It’s going to hurt more in the future,” said Nielsen. “It’s never a good year to raise taxes. It’s always going to hurt. The further and longer we wait, the more it’s going to hurt.”
The meeting concluded with council approving the budget bylaw, in the same 4-3 recorded vote. Council also okayed the 2025 fees and charges bylaw.