After two full days of budget talks by council, taxpayers in the Town of The Blue Mountains face an increase of 11.28 per cent on the local portion of their tax bills.
On Jan. 17, council held its second committee of the whole budget meeting. The seven-hour session saw council review the capital budget, reserve and reserve funds and the fees and charges proposals in the draft 2025 budget.
Council also finished off consideration of a 15-item list of additions to the budget, and gave approval to a pair of additional items (one for staff training and one for the clerk’s department to get outside assistance with freedom of information requests) that added 0.17 per cent to the overall budget. When the day concluded, the draft 2025 budget included a local tax increase of 11.28 per cent. This equated to $238.85 on the medium home assessed at $530,000 of value or $19.90 per month.
When combined with the Grey County increase of 3.3 per cent and the school board’s flat budget, the overall tax increase in the town would be 6.12 per cent.
The budget decisions made by council are not final, as both budget sessions on Jan. 13 and 17 were committee of the whole meetings. Council will consider the revised budget at its regular meeting on Jan. 27 and cuts to lower the tax increase could be made that day.
Deputy Mayor and budget chair Peter Bordignon said if he has his way, the budget will be coming down on Jan. 27.
“A double-digit increase is not acceptable for our residents,” Bordignon said in an interview at the conclusion of the meeting. “At our Jan. 27 meeting, we’ll work with staff at mitigating and reducing this tax increase.”
The deputy mayor said council should look at additional revenue sources to lower the tax increase. He also suggested some of the spending additions made during the committee of the whole sessions could be re-considered by council.
“We look forward to a very robust discussion on the 27th,” Bordignon said as he adjourned the meeting.
During the course of the two budget sessions, council approved nine new spending initiatives that added $953,170 to the budget. This equated to 4.38 per cent of the total tax increase. Once council had finished discussing the list of additional items, Coun. Shawn McKinlay moved a motion to request that staff bring ideas to the Jan. 27 meeting to reduce the impact on the tax levy of the additional spending items.
“Maybe staff can come back and say: you know what, we can scale back on that 4.38 per cent,” McKinlay said.
McKinlay’s resolution generated significant discussion around the table and was narrowly passed in a 3-2 vote, with councillors Gail Aridel and Alex Maxwell opposed. Mayor Andrea Matrosovs and Coun. Paula Hope were absent.
Following the Jan. 27 council meeting, a public meeting about the budget will be held on Feb. 18. On Feb. 24, staff will bring a report to council about the budget with a recommendation. Council is scheduled to review and approve the final budget for 2025 on March 10.
