City councillors aim to reduce 2023 property tax increase in budget talks

Barrie council met to discuss the 2023 budget Feb. 1, 2023 (CTV NEWS BARRIE/Chris Garry)

Barrie city councillors officially kicked off deliberations for the city's 2023 budget with a goal to reduce the proposed property tax rate increase.

When Wednesday's meeting began, city staff had presented councillors with a budget including over $400-million in spending that came with a 3.95 per cent property tax increase, the highest the city has seen in over a decade.

"I don't believe that's where we are going to end up," Mayor Alex Nuttall told CTV News ahead of the meeting.

Councillors spent nearly 3 hours on Wednesday looking for efficiencies wherever possible. A majority of the discussions centered around the newly created Stormwater Climate Action Fund. Approved by the last council, it was meant to help fund stormwater management operations and provide greater equity to make sure people using stormwater service are paying their fair share.

However, the mayor raised concerns that the new fund would have seen an additional 4 per cent increase placed on Barrie residents. Coupled with the proposed tax rate increase, the mayor argued it would have been an 8 per cent increase overall for residents.

"There's a reason that a previous council didn't say yes at the time and immediately put it into the budget and left it for someone else," Nuttall said during Wednesday's meeting. "I'll let you deduct or deduce whatever that reason is but there's a reason. There's a reason it was left on the plate of the 11 people around the table here because there's nothing fun about an 8 per cent tax increase."

Councillors have also approved a transit increase one year ahead of schedule. However an amendment was passed that will see seniors protected from it.

"In the intake form we weren't forecasting to bring an increase in any fares this year, it was 2024 but because of the economic state it is being bumped up a year," councillor Ann-Marie Kungl said while bringing forth her motion to protect seniors. "Having been on the seniors advisory committee over the last year and involved in the age friendly community plan transportation was one of the key contingencies around an accessible city."

Councillors also passed an amendment that will help reduce the impacts of staff overtures approved in 2022 that were pushed over to this year's budget.

By the end of the night the proposed 0.88 per cent increase for the city services portion of the budget was reduced to 0 per cent due to the various amendments made.

"We're in some pretty difficult straits and some of that is macro in the sense that as we have a very difficult interest rate environment, we have very difficult inflationary increase environment; it's just a very, very, very difficult time to make budgets work, just like people inside their own homes and we realize that," says Nuttall. "So as we are making these decisions we are continually trying to rebalance and counterbalance what is affordable and what we can gain the support from our citizenry on."

Budget deliberations continue Thursday when councillors consider the capital plan.