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City of Barrie finalizes 2022 budget with 2.94 per cent property tax increase

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The City of Barrie finalized its second pandemic budget, packed with a property tax increase of 2.94 per cent.

Mayor Jeff Lehman calls the outcome reasonably balanced.

"I'm sure, for some, 2.9 won't be a welcome number, but the reality is with inflation today, the city's costs are actually rising faster than that," he said.

The increase works out to $132 more per year for the average residential home.

There's another bump for water and wastewater bills. In all, residents are looking at an extra $156 a year.

Lehman said he's glad council didn't have to make any service cuts this budget.

Instead, it made some additions, such as a new library branch in the Holly area for the southwest end, plus the addition of four new bylaw officers.

Barrie Police Services got the most significant slice of the budget pie, with a spending bump of 2.88 per cent.

The police service accounts for roughly 15 per cent of the City's costs.

"I think we need to take a good, hard look at the Barrie police budget going forward and look at ways we can reinvest some of those funds into upstream solutions," said Councillor Keenan Aylwin.

The City also focused on expanding road capacity.

Highlights from the 2022 budget include:

  • Construction of a new Bryne Drive connection from Harvie Road to north of Caplan Avenue
  • Resurfacing 6.3 km of roads and replacing 5 km of roads
  • Bunkers Creek Culverts and Watercourse Improvements (Innisfil Street to Lakeshore Drive)
  • Continuation of Mapleview Drive East Improvements (Country Lane to Yonge Street)
  • Funding to reopen the Georgian Theatre in 2022
  • Substantial funding increase to the County of Simcoe for housing and homelessness prevention
  • Aerial spray to prevent LDD moths in city woodlots for 2022 and 2023
  • New permanent traffic calming measures to create safer roads

The City's operating budget for 2022 is $392 million, with a capital budget of $346 million.

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