By the end of two days of budget deliberations, Bradford West Gwillimbury Council not only delivered a 0 percent property tax increase for 2021 but found extra savings, allowing the town to move ahead with a number of new ‘priority’ projects relating to traffic safety.
On Tuesday, councillors focused on budget items left in a virtual “parking lot” for further discussion – including which expenditures to defer to 2022, and where to find the money for the new projects.
But first, at the request of council, staff took another look at the Leisure Services budget, re-evaluating both the operating cost of leisure facilities and the projected revenues generated by leisure programs.
The budget originally predicted that revenues would total only $85,000 for all of 2021.
Staff not only cut operating costs for facilities by $140,000, thanks to the continued closure of the Bob Fallis Sports Complex, they increased projected revenues by $218,334, based on 2020 actuals.
“Our revenues have been hammered,” said Chief Administrative Officer Geoff McKnight, as a result of COVID and the closures, physical distancing and capacity limits put in place – but he acknowledged that it was possible to be “more optimistic” about a recovery in the latter half of 2021, and boost the revenues.
“Again, this is just a forecast,” McKnight warned.
The $358,334 net change to Leisure Services' budget had no impact on the tax levy, councillors were told, because the department is still looking at a substantial shortfall.
The changes did reduce both the size of the shortfall and the reliance on reserves or a year-end surplus to make up the difference. Instead of a $748,000 draw on reserves/surplus, the town will need $390,000 to balance the books, potentially freeing up reserve funds for other uses or future years.
Councillors then rolled up their sleeves, and approved a one-time diversion of some of the dollars within the town's $24 million Operating Budget for 2021:
. $10,000 removed from council's budget for materials and supplies.
. $6,000 from council's professional development budget.
. $5,025 generating by cutting council salaries by two percent.
Coun. Gary Lamb suggested that instead of lopping two percent from council salaries, already some of the lowest in the region – “Yes, we’re 10 grand behind King Township, 20 grand behind East Gwillimbury,” he said – councillors should be allowed to direct the funds, as part of their annual charitable donations.
“Some residents don’t know – they think we make thousands and thousands of dollars as councillors, and that’s not the case,” noted Coun. Raj Sandhu, who had proposed the cuts. It was his intention that the two percent be directed either toward the budget for COVID cleaning supplies – or, since there is the possibility of provincial grant funding for those costs, toward traffic committee safety projects, including speed humps and speed cameras.
“That $500 isn’t going to kill us,” said Sandhu. “As leaders, we have to go over and above.”
. $200,000 removed from discretionary spending in all departments, for mileage, office supplies, conferences and training - funding not likely to be used during the pandemic.
Councillors also added revenues - a $50,000 County of Simcoe Economic Development grant expected in 2021, and $25,000 in unspent gas tax revenues – but decided to leave both unspent, for now.
The county grant may be guaranteed but the criteria attached to it are not known at this time, so it would be unwise to spend the money, council was told. It would be best to wait and see, “recognizing it will ultimately feed into some kind of economic development,” said McKnight.
And the gas tax funding is based on transit ridership numbers from 2019. Since those numbers have plummeted in both 2020 and 2021, due to COVID, “we can expect a decrease for a number of years,” unless the province changes how it calculates the funding, he said.
There were also some added expenditures: $7,000 for an anti-racism initiative during Black History Month, and $50,000 added to Community Services’ operating budget for sidewalk repairs.
A staff report had requested an additional $50,000 per year for sidewalks and line painting, as an ongoing operating expense, but councillors decided to make it a one-time contribution during a year of restraint.
Coun. Mark Contois supported adding up to $100,000 for sidewalks. Walking is one of the few activities permitted under COVID-19 restrictions, he noted. “I think the residents at this time want to see things that are functionable.”
“We have to continue to fix our sidewalks, we have to improve our safety on our roads,” agreed Coun. Peter Dykie. “Hopefully by the fall, things will be back to normal.”
But Coun. Sandhu suggested “this is not the year” to add $50,000 to operating expenses. “This year, we have to stay with what we committed to do, to keep that 0 percent.”
Asked if staff had a list of sidewalks most in need of repair, Director of Community Services Terry Foran explained that staff review the state of the sidewalks every year and identify priorities. “We do make them safe, although they may not be esthetically pleasing,” Foran said. “We do have an inventory of what needs to be fixed.”
At the end of the discussion, a total of $239,025 was set aside in the operating budget, available for one-time projects.
Council will decide where the money will go, as part of the 2021 year-end process, Director of Finance Ian Goodfellow explained later. “This is in keeping with prior fiscal years, wherein council provides approval of how to manage and account for the end-of-year financial results, including financial surplus/deficits and additional reserve transfers.”
Councillors then turned to the capital budget – adding their new priority projects, to be funded through development charges and reserves, with no impact on the tax levy:
. $65,000 for the speed hump traffic calming pilot project.
. $178,000 for speed cameras. The $88,000 per year operating cost and any potential revenues will be considered during 2022 budget deliberations.
“I think that’s something our residents will appreciate,“ said Mayor Keffer, noting that the cameras, used to catch speeders and red light runners, “are successful in the communities that have them.”
. $265,000 to begin an intersection safety improvement program in Bradford, bringing the infrastructure up to current standards, and allowing the co-ordination of traffic signals. The estimated $265,000 cost per intersection will be funded through the Capital Replacement Reserve.
. $500,000 for the design of Bond Head sanitary sewers, in the existing portion of the hamlet. Council had a choice – spend $211,000 to design the sanitary servicing for Bond Head’s downtown core only, or $532,000 to design servicing for the entire existing hamlet. The funds would come from the wastewater reserve.
At present, there is little support from Bond Head residents for hooking up to sanitary sewers, largely due to the extremely high cost. Council decided to tender the whole design, even though the town plans to limit construction to the downtown core, just to have the design ready and on the shelf if grant funding become available.
“It could be money well-spent,” agreed Deputy Mayor James Leduc.
Councillors agreed to leave the $75,000 Leisure Services Master Plan in the 2021 capital budget (90 percent to come from development charges, 10 percent from reserves) to allow work to get underway as soon as possible, and put $12,500 for a Bond Head Heritage Conservation District study back in the budget, to match an expected county of Simcoe grant.
Deferred to 2022 were a $30,000 fleet vehicle purchase for Development Engineering, a $50K Leisure Events Strategy Study, $25K for renovations at the Auld Kirk, and $140K to replace fitness equipment at the Leisure Centre – but the funds are not available for use in 2021, McKnight warned.
Funding needs to follow the deferred projects, he said. “There won’t be enough funding for the stuff we deferred to 2022, if the money stays in 2021.”
Council did find other areas where funds could be freed up:
. $75,000 earmarked for repairs to the St. Mary’s Building roof. With plans to develop a community hub at 177 Church St. (former Bradford Public School), repairing the roof could be a waste of money, Deputy Mayor Leduc suggested.
Foran agreed the money could be reallocated but warned, “There is a risk there.” If the roof fails, the town would be looking at emergency repairs.
. $20,000 cut from the administration's IT budget. for legal management software. Instead, BWG will collaborate, to use Innisfil's software.
. $100,000 cut from the $420,000 budget for reconstruction of the Golfview stormwater management pond, on the advice of Drainage Superintendent Frank Jonkman Jr.
. $77,000 originally set aside for red flashing lights on stop signs, at rural intersections with county roads. The county refused to allow the installation, leaving the money unspent and sitting in reserves.
. $83,000 still unspent in a related rural intersection illumination project. The original budget was $198,000; once lighting has been installed at all 13 intersections, there will be $83,000 left.
The decisions freed up $355,000 in the capital budget – some of which councillors decided to reallocate during the meeting. Another $50,000 was earmarked for sidewalk repair, and $25,000 was added to Leisure Services’ Parkland Improvement Fund, at the request of Coun. Jonathan Scott, to be spent on Bradford's older parks.
But when Deputy Mayor Leduc proposed setting aside $100,000 for the Fuller Heights toboggan hill, and another $100,000 for renovations to 177 Church St., there was pushback.
“Why do we assign the numbers, when we don’t have the facts?” asked Coun. Sandhu, urging council to wait for the staff reports and recommended options.
“We need to look at what we can do with it, and who we do it for,” agreed Coun. Lamb, suggesting that the funds remain in the Capital Expenses Reserve until council has more information.
At the end of the day, councillors recommended approval of an Operating Budget of just over $24.006 million, confirming a 0 percent increase in the 2021 blended property tax rate, and a water/wastewater budget of over $13.85 million, with a 0 percent increase in water/wastewater rates.
“It’s great to work as a group,” said Coun. Ron Orr, as the meeting wrapped up. “Every year I come out of this budget meeting feeling great about how we’re working together… for the common good.”
Coun. Lamb called it “happy and satisfying,” but warned that council will face “more and more demands, physically and socially,” as the town continues to grow.
“It’s been a tough job,” said Deputy Mayor Leduc. “Everybody’s put an effort in. Everybody as a team has stepped up.”