Barrie council passes city's portion of 2025 budget

Barrie city council approved a zero per cent increase to the city’s Operating Budget for the third year in a row.

It will continue the contribution of 2 per cent for the Infrastructure Investment Funding (IIF) levy, which is used to replace and renew roads, stormwater infrastructure and buildings. The 2025 investment translates to an additional $99.88 annually for an average Barrie home.

• Download the CTV News app to get local alerts on your device 
• Get the latest local updates sent to your email inbox

Under Ontario’s Strong Mayor legislation, which came into effect in Barrie on July 1, 2023, the mayor is to propose a budget to Council before February 1 each year.

“This budget strikes a strong balance for taxpayers. Council and staff worked hard to deliver a budget that continues the zero per cent increase to city operations, while going ahead with a robust infrastructure plan to support our growing city and ensuring we continue to deliver the core services our residents and businesses rely on every day,” said Mayor Alex Nuttall.

Highlights in the budget include:

• Completion of Fire Station 6
   
• Lakehead University STEM hub downtown
   
• Little Lake boardwalk and dock to allow for passive access to Little Lake for canoers and kayakers
• New park lighting and furniture at Ferndale Woods Park
• New sidewalks on Edgehill Drive
• New splash pad in Ward 7
• Recreation Centre in southeast Barrie

Cost-cutting measures include:

 

• Bringing outdoor property maintenance in house including grass cutting, snow clearing, window washing, and overall property appearance. This project resulted in $75,000 net cost savings as of February 2024 and $200,000 annual potential savings as well as increased service levels.
• Offering RecPASS membership online allows participants to purchase their pass without coming to city hall or lining up at a recreation centre. This service improvement saves approximately 500 hours of staff time per year and resulted in a 27 per cent increase in membership sales since implementation in September 2023.
• When Durham Region Transit lost some of their buses due to a fire, Barrie Transit agreed to trade three conventional buses for three cutaways that have been added to the City’s fleet to support the expansion of the Transit on Demand (ToD) service. This exchange avoided an estimated cost of $280,000 per new cutaway vehicle and a 12–16-month lead time for new cutaways.

“Council and staff continue to focus on efficiency and innovation to make tax dollars go further and ensure services are delivered at the best possible value to residents and businesses,” says Mayor Alex Nuttall.

The residential property tax bill is comprised of four parts:

• City operations - 44 per cent of the 2025 Budget,
• City capital - 12 per cent
• Library, Police and County of Simcoe - 33 per cent
• Education - 11 per cent

Barrie city council has direct control over the city services portion of the budget. City council has limited influence over service partner spending requests, as these partners do not report directly to city council, but rather council has representation on the governance bodies they report to. City council has no influence over the education component of the budget as this is determined by the Province of Ontario.

The service partner portion of the budget will be presented to Council on January 15, and is expected to be approved on January 29.