Bradford West Gwillimbury residents are looking at a 2.34 per cent tax hike this year, town council agreed this week.
Council and Town of BWG staff met Wednesday and Thursday for full-day discussions about the 2019 budget, which is expected to be voted on at the next Committee of the Whole meeting Feb. 5 and finalized by council at a later date.
Coun. Mark Contois did not attend any of the budget talks, as he is recovering from knee surgery.
Here is a breakdown of some highlights of what was decided but still needs final council approval.
Taxes
BWG council settled on a budget that includes a 2.34 per cent tax increase for residents, which would mean an extra $104.77 per average home assessed at $481,000.
The town’s portion of that increase — covering municipal, library, and special capital levy costs — is $17.38, with police, Simcoe County, and education making up the rest. The latter two have not yet finalized their tax numbers, but are expected to by mid to late March, according to Town of BWG Treasurer Ian Goodfellow.
The town has estimated their increases as 4.06 per cent for school boards, and 4.17 per cent for the county, he said.
During discussions Thursday, Mayor Rob Keffer cited the tax increases of nearby municipalities — all between two and three per cent — and said he would like to see the Town of BWG stick to something similar.
The town was working with a draft budget of $24,164,400.
South Simcoe police
The police budget was submitted to BWG council in December, with a 0.59 per cent increase, which means an extra $3.34 for the average household.
The 2019 police budget was worth just more than $19 million — a spike of about $846,000, or 4.7 per cent, compared to its 2018 budget.
Among its plans for 2019 are equipping all front-line police officers with Tasers, and investigating the possible use of red-light cameras and other cameras in community safety or school zones, according to a presentation to council in December by South Simcoe Police Chief Andrew Fletcher.
As well, the service opened two new collision reporting centres in January at its north and south detachments in Innisfil and BWG.
Water/wastewater
BWG residents can expect a 2.55 per cent increase for water and wastewater services for residential customers.
Fire
BWG council OK'd the hiring of two new firefighters in the budget.
The total cost is $207,885, but council requested the BWG Fire and Emergency Services delay the firefighters' start date to July to cut back on cost. This means half of the total - $103,942 - will be spent in 2019 and the other half in 2020.
As well, the budget allowed for $40,000 for eight volunteer firefighters, with plans to recruit specifically in Bond Head to help build up the team for the town's future Bond Head fire station.
Council exemption
Due to federal government legislative changes, 1/3 of elected officials’ salary is no longer tax exempt, so council approved a salary increase of $27,917 so it can stay at the same level of net income.
The money is being taken out of some budgeted areas, including materials and supplies.
“We can’t be working for less than what we have been. We’re always on call,” said Keffer during budget discussions. “We can’t be going backwards with our remuneration.”
Council looked at covering some of the cost by removing some money from its mileage, conference and training budget, but several councillors said there was only so much money to take without then preventing future councils from attending valuable conferences.
“We’ve been pretty frugal. You can only take so much blood out of a stone,” said Deputy Mayor James Leduc.
“Every year, we’ve been chipping away at the council’s mileage and conference. The networking feature alone is very valuable,” added Coun. Peter Ferragine, noting councillors get to meet in person with ministers and officials from other municipalities.
Mobile stage
Council approved $120,000 to purchase a mobile stage for events, such as Music in the Park, in order to cut down on rental fees for long-term savings.
It costs the town about $20,000 a year to rent stages, said Goodfellow.
There is also “an increase in demand continuing to grow each year” for stages for events, and BWG is the only one of 13 neighbouring municipalities without a permanent mobile stage, according to the draft budget.
It will take time for the town to secure a stage, so it is expected it will have to rent one for some events in 2019. However, once it has a stage, it is expected to see a savings of $10,000 in rentals, and potentially rent out the stage to other municipalities.
The stage will come fully equipped with a sound system and lights.
Traffic light at 10 Sideroad and 8th Line
Council has requested a traffic light be installed at the intersection of 10 Sideroad and 8th Line.
Peter Loukes, the town’s director of development and engineering services, reminded council that staff were instructed during last year’s budget talks to put some money aside for the lights, instead of approving lights for the intersection of Professor Day Drive and Breeze Drive.
“We have to verify that funding source so we can actually spend that money,” Loukes said, adding he believes the town has $550,000 available for that project, “which is more than enough.”
Canal skating
During a discussion about new parks and council’s desire for ice rink opportunities, Coun. Gary Lamb suggested the town consider turning the Holland Marsh canal into a skating trail similar to the Rideau Canal in Ottawa.
“In Bradford, we have 17 kilometres. We have the natural possibility of doing a skating trail on the canal,” he said. “We all made rinks ... the kids in the marsh … and played hockey. “
“We have the (most beautiful) feature, like Ottawa. We didn’t do it right. If there’s ever money out there to do it, we should look at that for sure,” added Leduc.
“That is the perfect opportunity. (Get a) beavertail and skating and away you go. People come from here (and go) to Ottawa to skate on that canal when they can just go right here and do the same thing.”
No money was allocated to such a project.
