The final piece of the puzzle has been put in place for Bradford’s budget for 2024, and as a result the total tax rate increase has shrunk slightly from last week to 4.24 per cent — or about an additional $219 for the average home.
In Bradford, the province’s Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC) assessed the average home at $516,919.
Council approved a total of $3,066,802 for the Bradford West Gwillimbury Public Library during the regular meeting of council Tuesday evening, Jan. 16, just $15,838 more than the library’s base operating budget of $3,050,964. It's a decision that will allow the library to hire a new part-time custodian.
However, thanks to the keen eye of Ward 2 Coun. Jonathan Scott, along with some help from finance director and treasurer Ian Goodfellow, council was able to identify and remove from the town’s operating budget $35,000, which more than offset the additional cost.
Those savings came from eliminating the annual contribution of $25,000 to the Parking Lot Reserve Fund, as well as the annual contribution of $10,000 to the Facilities Trust Reserve Fund.
Goodfellow explained the contributions were holdovers from previous years that were no longer required, and Scott hopes the $445,000 in those reserves can be used in 2025.
“Spoiler alert for next year’s budget: That might come in useful for some of the capital constraints that we know are coming,” he said, estimating the funds would be about 60 per cent of next year’s expected capital deficit.
The library’s base budget was already approved during the special meeting of council that stretched over Tuesday and Wednesday last week, but because arbitration hearings were still ongoing at the time between the library and the unionized employees over their first collective agreement, additional requests above and beyond that were deferred to this week.
While the arbitration meetings finished on Thursday, the arbitrators still have 45 days to issue a decision, which could result in wage increases for the library’s unionized staff, increasing the cost to the library’s operating budget.
“We know as a library board, as an employer, how important it is to rebuild and strengthen the relationship we have with staff as we look to implement the first collective agreement, and we know that it’s going to take work and it’s going to take time,” said library board chair Licinio Miguelo. “There’s no disagreement whatsoever on the value that our staff have for the community.”
Additional requests for the library included:
- $110,829 for an employee relations specialist
- $56,115 for a part-time information technology analyst
- $53,560 for an arts, culture and events specialist
- $23,690 for a part-time Creative Lab programmer
However, after some debate, councillors voted to postpone those requests for future years, with the exception of the employee relations specialist, which Mayor James Leduc suggested could be handled by the town’s own human resources department. He asked staff to report back to council on the matter.
On the capital side, council approved transferring $157,000 from the library reserve fund in 2024 to cover the cost of:
- $17,000 for as many as six external surveillance cameras
- $100,000 for a public address (PA) system
- $40,000 for furniture replacement
Ward 4 Coun. Joseph Giordano asked the installation of those systems include capacity for future expansion, especially for the camera system, so it could monitor the future Celebration Square.
With the amendments to the budget complete, the mayor moved and council voted in favour of shortening the amendment period to Jan. 17. The mayor also said he planned to release a directive as of Wednesday morning waiving his veto period under the strong mayor powers, which would effectively complete the budget process.
The total tax rate also includes external factors beyond the town’s budget, like the police budget, County of Simcoe budget, and provincial education tax.
The cost of the police budget to Bradford’s tax rate grew by 3.76 per cent and will cost the average home an extra $26.70.
The 3.7-per-cent increase passed by the County of Simcoe council on Nov. 14, 2023 will cost the average home an extra $55.24.
The provincial education tax is not expected to increase.
As a result, the total tax to be collected from all Bradford residents combined is estimated to be about $86,744,910, and is expected to be divided in 2024 as follows:
- Bradford municipal portion — $25,227,376 or about 29 per cent
- Bradford special capital levy — $8,821,527 or about 10 per cent
- Bradford library — $3,066,802 or about four per cent
- County of Simcoe — $24,963,253 or about 28 per cent
- Education — $12,753,144 or about 15 per cent
- Police — $11,912,808 or about 14 per cent
As final numbers are still to come, the values for the county and education portions are estimates.
The town’s special capital levy is used to fund replacement of infrastructure like roads and sewers as well as to help fund the construction of new facilities like the community hub at 177 Church St. and the future town hall at 125 Simcoe Rd.
While property taxes cover about 43 per cent of the town’s operating budget, about 24 per cent is funded through water and wastewater rates and about 33 per cent from other revenue including provincial grants and subsidies.
For BradfordToday's coverage of the proposed capital budget, click here.
