Grey County Council has given first approval to its $269 million 2024 budget.
It works out to an increase of 6.3 per cent or $69.28 for the average assessed single detached home in Grey County.
The County says the budget invests in significant projects including the redevelopment of Rockwood Terrace, $30 million to support road construction, constructing a new EarlyON centre in Hanover, and takes the first steps towards building a new paramedic services base in Durham.
It also notes, some services have been cut back to reduce the tax levy increase.
An estimated $438,000 in County funding will be withdrawn from the Grey Transit Route, which may mean reduced service levels in order to align with funding from the Province’s Community Transportation Program.
County staff are working on figuring out which routes will be affected and are expected to bring a report back to council in late January.
Communications Manager Rob Hatten says, “We’re now going to have conversations with our service provider Driver’s Seat and with the Province to determine how the service can operate best within the current grant funding requirements and grant funding amounts based on the ridership and trends that we’ve seen.”
Hatten notes, riders will be notified well ahead of time of changes to their route. The GTR has five routes: from Owen Sound to Dundalk, from Dundalk to Orangeville, from Owen Sound to Meaford, from Meaford to Blue Mountains and from Owen Sound to Wiarton.
Meanwhile, some transfers to reserves for vehicles and heavy equipment were removed and the annual transfer to the healthcare initiatives reserve was reduced.
The County says several factors contribute the rising cost of the budget, including general inflation and construction inflation, rising insurance costs, utility costs, in-year decisions and more.
County Warden Brian Milne says in a statement, “This has been one of the most challenging budgets at the county council table in recent memory. Costs of everything are up and council realizes everyone is feeling more pressure in their day-to-day expenses.”
He adds, “We’ve had challenging discussions. I think we’ve struck a balance and landed in an affordable place for our communities.”
Staff will revise the 2024 budget to reflect council’s changes.
A bylaw to officially adopt the budget is scheduled to presented January 11th.
