It required some eleventh hour tweaking, but on Monday night (January 23) Meaford's council approved the budget for 2012.
As approved by council in November, the blended rate property tax increase will be the full five percent allowed under the five-year plan that was adopted by the previous council in 2009.
Residents in urban Meaford will see their tax bills increase by 4.6 percent for 2012 while residents of the former Sydenham and St. Vincent townships will have an increase of 5 percent.
Overall the municipal operating budget will increase to approximately $13.3 million, up from $11.9 million in 2011. The 2012 budget also includes $2.2 million in capital projects, all of which have identified funding sources and require no new debt to be taken on by the municipality.
The impact on the property tax bill for an average residential property owner will be between $88 and $96 more than 2011 based on a residence with an assessed value of $209,600.
In requesting a budget that imposes the maximum five percent rate increase, council had asked that the operating budget be held to an overall blended rate increase of four percent with the additional one percent dedicated specifically to rural road repairs and improvements.
That additional one percent means that an additional $144,000 will be spent on rural roads on top of what had already been included in the budget for road repair and maintenance.
Before arriving at a budget that council could approve, council spent some of their time during the budget meeting attempting to find $75,000 to cut in order to bring the rate increase under five percent. With the budget enhancements approved by council in November, the initial rate increases put before council on Monday would have seen taxes increase by 5 percent in urban Meaford and 5.4 percent in Sydenham and St. Vincent.
Councillor Lynda Stephens suggested transferring the $75,000 from the newly established tax rate stabilization reserve fund. That suggestion gained the approval of her fellow members of council.
Meaford Treasurer David Kennedy also agreed with the recommendation saying that council was using that rate stabilization reserve for its intended purpose.
While the tax rate increase now fell within the parameters of the five-year plan, some members of council were still hoping to find a way to bolster the funding for economic development.
Councillor Barb Clumpus has requested clawing back a portion of the additional $144,000 that had been earmarked for rural roads and shifting $24,000 toward economic development initiatives.
“I'm wondering if there might be an opportunity to reduce that amount to $120,000 which is still a sizable amount to increase the base for roads, and would also free up $24,000 to put towards economic development,” suggested Clumpus.
The suggestion made by Clumpus was met with an emphatic “No” from councillor Deborah Young who has worked diligently to see increases in spending for rural road improvements.
“I just have to say no,” responded Young, “There isn't anything else I have to say about that.”
Young reminded council that the additional funding for rural roads was approved by resolution by council, and the funds realized by the decision to add an additional percentage point to the rate increase should remain dedicated to improving and repairing rural roads.
Council ultimately found an additional $25,000 for economic development by reducing the $51,000 that was destined to a capital fund for the controversial waste to energy project that has been proposed for the municipality.
Deputy Mayor Harley Greenfield was supportive of shifting funds away from the proposed waste to energy project, saying that the funds could be better used in economic development initiatives. When it was suggested by Councillor Young that the waste to energy proposal is in fact an economic development opportunity, Greenfield said that it was the wrong kind of economic development for Meaford.
After the budget meeting, Mayor Francis Richardson told reporters that the decision to divert funds from the proposed waste to energy project should not be seen as council abandoning the exploration of the feasibility of the project.
“It is on the back burner right now because everybody is waiting for the province to come in with the new rates, and we'll see where it goes from there,” said Richardson, “It will be well into 2012, and maybe 2013 before any decision is made.”
Treasurer David Kennedy was very pleased to have the budget completed and approved before the end of January, and he told The Independent that Meaford is beginning to see the benefits of the implementation of the five-year plan.
“I'm pretty pleased. This meets the mandate that we set last year as a departmental goal to have the budget completed and approved before the end of January. We're starting to get a sustainable capital program that will see this municipality start to get those projects done that need to get done.”
