Owen Sound City Hall. (photo by Matt Hermiz/Bayshore Broadcasting)
Owen Sound city council has officially approved 2021 budget.
Council passed the formal bylaw for the $64.8-million annual spending plan as proposed at Monday’s meeting. It includes a total tax levy increase of $850,000.
The city’s Director of Corporate Services Kate Allan says the estimated combined increase — including county and education levies — for local ratepayers is 1.85 per cent.
That works out to annual property tax bills rising by just over $72 on the average assessment of $220,000.
“Judging the past two or three years we’ve been better than a lot of our comparable municipalities,” says Owen Sound Mayor Ian Boddy. “This is even better as others increase and catch up to us, it gets us more in the (tax middleground) without cutting major services that people use.”
Owen Sound’s 2021 spending plan includes a $12.9-million capital program, nearly $39-million in operating expenses and an estimated $13-million for water and wastewater.
The capital program includes the $5.3-million reconstruction of East Bayshore Road (Grey Road 15) from 3rd Avenue East north to the East Bayshore Road sewage pump station. That project is being funded in part by Grey County.
Among the other items included in the capital spending plan are upgrades at several city facilities, including roof replacements at the fire station, Tom Thomson Art Gallery and courthouse. The city is also planning to undertake playground replacements at Harrison Park Campground, Duncan McLellan Park and the YMCA/Julie McArthur Recreation Centre.