Collingwood council ready to start budget process

By Morgan Ian Adams Collingwood Enterprise Bulletin February 16 2011

COLLINGWOOD — It’s a start, but Collingwood’s budget chief believes there can be more.

Deputy-mayor Rick Lloyd — who was officially appointed as chair of the budget committee on Monday night — says his goal is to get municipal spending down to the same level as last year.

Councillors head into their first budget committee meeting Thursday afternoon, on the third floor of the municipal building at Simcoe and St. Marie, looking at a 4% increase in municipal spending; Lloyd says it’s a good start, considering municipal staff have whittled it down from a 14% increase in spending.

“The staff have done a great job, and now it’s up to council to look at the services we provide, and the possibility of cutting services further to get (the budget) down to zero, or near-zero,” he said.

At the moment, the municipality is looking at a gap between revenue and expenses of $24.4 million — the amount the town would need to collect this year in property taxes. Last year, the town brought in $22.5 million in property taxes (excluding the amounts sent to the county and school boards).

Lloyd says if council chops that number down by about $1.5 million, it should be enough — accounting for growth — to make the actual increase to property taxpayers negligible.

At the same time, finding that $1.5 million won’t be easy, he said.

Council also has $1.9 million in requests from the community — including $1.5 million for the Collingwood YMCA, though that money was to come from the town’s reserves.

“It will be impossible for council to meet all those requests,” said Lloyd. “The people of Collingwood made it loud and clear in the last election that they can’t afford an increase on their taxes.”

He noted the Y’s request — coming as it does out of reserves — may have to be balanced with a possible need of council to dip into reserves in order to help bring any tax increase down to a minimal level.

Lloyd says no service will be sacrosanct, and “all departments will be looked at.” That includes the municipally-owned railway, he said, which is anticipated to cost the municipality $425,000 in 2011 — nearly a $80,000 increase from last year, and a dramatic increase from 2008 when it cost taxpayers nearly $200,000.

Lloyd says reduced traffic on the line — co-owned with the City of Barrie — is making the railway prohibitive to run.

“There are some services that may need to be cut, and I’m prepared to work with council to make those choices,” he said.

Lloyd is also suggesting council look at a hiring freeze; there are requests to create several positions, including a $66,000-a-year financial analyst position in the treasury department, and a health and safety advisor in the human resources department with an annual salary of around $60,000.

Council has also been presented with about $19 million in capital projects — though it’s anticipated only about $1.15 million would be needed from the property tax base, with the rest of the funding coming from a mix of reserve accounts, development charges, user fees, and grants from upper-tier municipalities.

Council will also need to consider Georgian College’s financial request of $1 million over four years to help pay the cost of its new $8-million campus in Collingwood, scheduled to be complete this September.

Lloyd said there may be an opportunity to spread that request out over a longer period of time, or find other ways to help the college out.

“We have an obligation to taxpayers, first and foremost,” he said. “In order for us to be a supporter of business, we have to lessen the impact of taxes, which is one way to encourage growth in the community.

“There may be other possible ways to help the college.”

Lloyd noted repayments on the town’s existing debenture debt — including $2.28 million just to pay for the $19.6 million in debentures issued last year — have put councillors in a tough spot when it comes spending.

“We have very little room for any extras,” he said.

He said there are issues down the road, including a possible $40 million-to-$60-million expansion of the town’s wastewater treatment facility, and a need to address the lack of recreation facilities in town.

“Those all represent big dollars,” he said. “We have an obligation to provide for the essential services of the community… but we can’t keep going the way past councils have.”

Follow along with Thursday’s budget discussions by Twitter: twitter.com/Scoop_68