Council's first meeting for 2023 will focus on the annual budget.
On Jan. 9, staff will present the third draft of the municipal budget to the strategic initiatives committee, which includes all of council, for an endorsement. If supported, it could go to full council for approval later this month.
The budget proposes a 1.63 per cent increase in municipal tax bills, which is the result of several cuts and additions made by council at the end of last year.
In total, the draft budget counts on more than $38 million collected through taxation, for the town's $130M budget. There is $67 million proposed for operational costs and another $63.3 million for capital costs like projects and infrastructure. In the last eight years, the town's overall budget has nearly doubled from $67.3 million in 2015. The total tax levy in 2015 was $27.8 million, compared to $39.6 million in the draft 2023 budget.
The town's operating budget is broken down by department, and is only partially funded by municipal taxes. Revenue also comes from user fees and non-tax revenues. The allocations proposed by the third draft of the 2023 budget are as follows:
- Governance: $611,913
- Corporate Management: $8,890,116
- Customer and Corporate Services: $4,207,535
- Collingwood Fire Services: $5,557,018
- Ontario Provincial Police $5,083,174
- Protection Inspection and Control: $817,832
- Conservation Authority $298,655
- Public Works and Engineering: $$8,027,637
- Transit: $1,882,181
- Social Housing: $771,014
- Parks, Recreation, and Culture: $8,110,526
- Planning and Development: $2,701,814
- Collingwood Public Library: $2,081,727
- Building: $1,070,141
- Parking: $585,222
- Water: $7,832,476
- Wastewater: $8,611,019
The town employed 245.17 total full-time equivalent staff positions in 2021, which is proposed to increase to 251.8 for 2023. The fire department and public works department have the highest number of full-time equivalent staff positions.
On the capital side of the budget, more than $37 million of the $63.3 million budget proposed for 2023 is funded through water and wastewater rates as well as user fees (such as for building permits and parking). Just under $700,000 of taxes collected in 2023 are allocated to capital projects in 2023, with the rest coming from existing town reserves ($26M), external contributions ($9.4M), development charges ($19.9M), debt ($3.5M), and grants ($3.6M).
The major capital projects on the 2023 draft budget include storm sewer repairs on Minnesota Street ($5.1M), widening Mountian Road ($4.3M), completing the Awen water play splash pad ($2.3M), Summit View Park ($1.5M), Wilson Sheffield Park ($1.1M), Hens and Chickens Trail bridge ($450K), full LED replacement for all municipal facilities ($600K), and replacing the accessible entrance doors at the Collingwood library ($150K).
You can review the 220-page third draft of the town's 2023 budget online here. You can also present comments to council during the strategic initiatives committee on Jan. 9 by attending the meeting at town hall in person, or by attending virtually. More information and the agenda for the meeting will be posted online here later this week.
