Taxpayers in the Town of The Blue Mountains are facing a 6.15 per cent tax increase in 2025.
At its meeting on Jan. 27, The Blue Mountains council finished its budget deliberations with a series of spending cuts that lowered the local tax increase from a project 8.31 per cent to 6.15 per cent. When blended with the Grey County increase of 3.3 per cent and the school board increase of zero per cent, the overall increase in the town is 3.98 per cent.
At the meeting, council made four significant budget reductions to bring the projected increase down. Changes included:
- Cutting the physician recruitment budget from $100,000 to $65,000 for a savings of $35,000
- Eliminating $75,000 allocated for increased transit to Collingwood from the budget. Instead, town staff will continue to work out a new agreement with Collingwood, which will be presented to council later in the year. At that time, staff will present a report that includes options for funding the anticipated increased costs for the transit service. This move will not impact the provision of transit services as $100,000 remains in the base budget for the service.
- Council eliminated $21,714 in spending for a training project for staff.
- Council voted 7-0 in favour of including a staff vacancy rate of 2 per cent in the budget, which amounted to savings of $337,000 in the budget.
On the median home assessed at $530,000 the increase will mean a local tax bill of approximately $2,248 in 2025. This is an increase of $130.33 per year or $10.86 per month.
After the meeting, deputy mayor and finance chair Peter Bordignon said it was a tough budget to set.
“Our initial budget started north of 18 per cent and the draft budget that we are presenting to the public now reflects a 6.15 per cent municipal levy increase, which once blended with the county represents a 3.8 per cent overall tax increase,” Bordignon said in an email after the meeting. “While not ideal, this is a challenging year with many fiscal pressures in relation to core services and staffing. We will continue forward with public input as well as continuing to look for additional saving opportunities and revenue sources before we present the final budget for adoption in March.”
The meeting concluded with council unanimously approving the draft 2025 budget and directing staff to schedule a public meeting about the budget on Feb. 18.