Grey County Council has given first approval to the draft 2023 budget which includes a levy increase of 1.48 per cent.
Director of Finance Mary Lou Spicer says the increase will work out to an increase of $15.92 a year for the average household assessed at $285,000.
Council met January 27th for a special budget meeting where staff presented the $225.1 million operating and capital budget.
Warden Brian Milne says in a statement, “Maintaining service levels without adding additional stress to taxpayers was the focus of Council with the 2023 budget,” adding, “With inflation sitting above 6 per cent, we’ve made tough decisions that will keep the County tax increases to a minimum without jeopardizing the quality of the valuable services we deliver to our community.”
The County says in a release, in total, $67.9 million needs to be raised through the County levy.
Spicer says the levy increase of 1.48 per cent is lower than the initially proposed 3.66 per cent.
She says savings were found in a few ways. One was to push back a noise survey which is a workplace safety survey. Another was to cancel the transfer of $490,200 in funds to a future healthcare funding initiative reserve. Spicer explains the reserve’s purpose, saying, “If something comes up that isn’t’ in the budget, not in our mandate, and we were approached for funding to do with healthcare, then we’ve been putting away money in a reserve as a means of funding that.”
One example of how a reserve like that might be used, was when the County put $1 million towards the creation of the new nursing wing at Georgian College, money they contributed to the new Centre Grey Hospital in Markdale, or a donation to a campaign for medical equipment.
She says preliminary work on a couple of bridge projects will not start this year. She says one is on Grey Road 9 and the other on the Euphrasia – St. Vincent Townline.
Meanwhile, Warden Brian Milne says, “Several factors impact the cost of providing services. Most of these factors are outside of the County’s control,” adding, “We need to understand our financial reality and that means we can’t take on every project we would like to. As a Council, our job is to prioritize what is most important and will have the greatest impact. I believe that’s what we’ve done with this budget.”
The County’s release notes around 41 per cent of the levy directly supports people through services such as affordable housing, long-term care, Ontario Works, early learning and child care, and paramedic services. Investments in Grey County roads and road maintenance accounts for another 33 per cent of the levy.
The budget also includes some climate action work and promotion, supportive housing and affordable housing, and business support and economic development.
Spicer says some highlights in the capital budget include $12.5 million for capital renewal in transportation which is a combination of road work and work on depots, $9.2 million for the redevelopment of Rockwood Terrace Long-term Care Home in Durham, $2.7 million for capital projects in the housing department, $1.6 million in capital projects for paramedic services, $946,000 for air systems in a number of buildings, $409,500 for work on County trails.
The draft approved budget will be brought to County Council for final approval on Thursday, February 9th.
The full 2023 budget details and summary can be found online at www.grey.ca/budget.