There is a sense of deja vu in the Grey Highlands council chambers about the upcoming deliberations on the 2025 municipal budget.
Although the formal budget process for Grey Highlands council has not yet begun, members of council are all too aware that for the second straight year they are facing tough budget numbers and difficult decisions.
Setting the 2024 budget was no easy task for council and 2025 is shaping up to be no different.
At its meeting on Nov. 6, council considered a pair of finance reports from Anna McCarthy, the municipality’s director of finance and treasurer, that illustrated that some intense budget days are ahead.
McCarthy delivered a report about the state of the municipality’s 2024 finances after three quarters and she also reported to council about plans to formally take out new long-term debt through Infrastructure Ontario for a number of capital projects completed in 2024.
The total annual repayment for the new long-term debt is just over $486,000 per year. The tax levy impact is just over $258,000 in 2025 (some previous long-term debt repayments ended in 2024, which reduced the amount of new taxation the municipality must collect for the new payments). Projects completed with debt financing included: road and bridge work, the Connecting Link reconstruction on Highway 10 in Flesherton and three fire department vehicles.
During the discussions on the two reports, Mayor Paul McQueen pointed to the 2025 budget impacts. The mayor pointed out that the long-term debt repayments for the 2024 projects would add 1.67 per cent to the tax levy, the significant increase to the municipality’s OPP costs would add 2.4 per cent to the tax levy and a loss of provincial infrastructure funding would add another 0.5 per cent to the tax levy.
“We’re looking at a four per cent increase for those four items,” he said.
There was also good news in the numbers as well.
Coun. Tom Allwood noted that the third quarter financial update showed a positive trend. McCarthy’s report said that through the end of Sept., Grey Highlands was under budget.
“We are showing a surplus,” said Allwood. “It is still early in the year.”
The 2024 budget was no picnic for council. Setting the budget involved multiple meetings that often stretched for hours as council sought savings and reductions to reduce a local tax increase that started out in double digits. Council eventually settled on a 7.62 per cent local tax increase, which equated to 6.2 per cent overall when combined with the increases for Grey County and the various school boards.
The draft 2025 budget will be presented to council at a committee of the whole meeting in December.
