TBM council pushes staff for 2% tax hike or lower in 2024

The Blue Mountains council wants to see a 2024 base budget with an increase of no more than two per cent.

At its committee of the whole the meeting on Aug. 14, council rejected a staff recommendation to target a 2024 budget increase of between three to five per cent and instead set the target at two per cent. The target has been set for the base taxation budget, as well as the budgets for the water and sewage departments.

In advance of the preparation of the 2024 budget, town staff delivered a report outlining some of the budget pressures the town will be facing in 2024.

Sam Dinsmore, the town’s acting director of finance and treasurer explained that staff was asking council for some direction as the 2024 budget planning process begins.

“We’re setting the table for the maximum increases council would like to see,” he said.

Dinsmore’s report outlined the financial pressures the municipality faces including: the continuing concerns over inflation and a significant increase in the town’s waste management collection contract, which alone is a 3.79 per cent increase to the local tax levy.

A motion from Coun. Shawn McKinlay to set the target at three per cent was defeated in a 3-3 tie vote. McKinlay, Coun. Paula Hope and Mayor Andrea Matrosovs voted in favour. Deputy Mayor Peter Bordignon was absent.

Subsequently, a motion from Coun. Gail Ardiel to set the target at two per cent was adopted unanimously.

“What concerns me about this report is the unknowns at this time,” said Coun. June Porter. “I’m a little concerned about that.”

Coun. Alex Maxwell agreed.

“It’s hard to make a decision based on very little information at this point in time,” he said.

Ardiel said she couldn’t support a target of zero per cent.

“I’ve never liked a zero per cent budget. That happened in the early 2000s and we paid for that for about four years,” she said.

Coun. Paula Hope said it was important for council to set a target for staff ahead of the budget process.

“We do need to give staff some kind of direction,” said Hope. “We do need to be realistic. We have some solid increases coming through in the solid waste collection program.”