Staff bringing pared-down budget to Collingwood council this week

Collingwood council members are getting the second draft of the proposed 2022 budget this week, with staff presentations scheduled for Nov. 17. 

On Nov. 5, staff brought a draft of the 2022 budget to council for a strategic initiatives meeting, but councillors opted to send it back to staff without hearing further presentations. 

The draft budget from Nov. 5 was based on a 2.79 per cent tax increase, but council asked for a proposed one per cent tax increase. 

Staff have a second draft now ready for the Nov. 17 strategic initiatives meeting with a proposed one per cent tax increase. 

"This budget requires hard decisions to balance between the challenges of inflationary increases, driving forward council's most important priorities, and with the capacity for staff to deliver," states the updated budget presentation. 

According to the report, some updates in billing and funding announcements helped staff reduce the overall tax increase. 

The town is expecting more money from the province for the Ontario Community Infrastructure Funding allocation in 2022, and is anticipating reduced costs when vaccine verification is no longer required at town facilities. According to the the provincial reopening plan, proof of vaccination requirements will be lifted in March or April. 

A breakdown of the $1.2 million increase proposed for municipal taxpayers, discretionary amounts included $50,000 for the UN/UEF world summit co-hosted by the town and $40,000 for a speed reduction study. 

The speed study was included in the 2022 draft budget on the direction of council from a motion passed in June asking staff to include a consultant-led study into Collingwood’s speed limits and potential reductions.

The draft budget also proposes $25,000 to increase the heritage tax relief grants, and $25,000 for a review of council compensation. 

Some items not already calculated into the 2022 draft budget include affordable housing task force recommendations to start a reserve fund of $350,000 for future affordable housing and $50,000 toward the town's work to become a Bee City.

Council will have to decide whether to include those enhancements in the 2022 final budget. All would impact the taxation rate. 

For an average household (assessed at $327,000), a one-per-cent increase would increase the 2022 tax bill by about $23.03 over the bill from 2021. 

The 2022 draft budget indicates an operating budget of $64.5 million and a capital budget of $51.8 million, for a total annual budget of $116.3 million, which is about $15.5 million above the 2020 budget.

With the proposed one-per-cent increase, the amount of taxes the town collects in 2022 would be about $36.4 million, which is $1.2 million more than was budgeted for taxation in 2021. 

The budget will be presented at the strategic initiatives committee meeting on Nov. 17, starting at 1 p.m. This will be a discussion and any votes or decisions made at the committee meeting will have to be confirmed with a future council vote before they are final. 

You can follow the meeting on YouTube or join the Zoom call for the virtual meeting. More details, including the draft budget presentation, are available on the town website here.