Grey Highlands council considered bringing its 2022 budget to a public meeting, after discussing the right for public comment on their decisions and worries about misinformation on the budget that has been spreading online.
Council passed a 6.67 per cent tax increase for 2022 on Monday, which is similar to previous years, but there were concerns on social media that 2022 could bring the largest tax increase ever seen in the municipality.
"One of the things that was said was that this was the largest levy increase that Grey Highlands has ever increased [in] its budget since amalgamation, which is not true," said CAO Karen Govan at budget deliberations Dec. 6. "If I look back in 2018, the levy budget was increased by 6.56 per cent in 2019, 2020 was 12.17 per cent, 2021 was 2.71 per cent."
Coun. Paul Allen moved that council bring the budget back to the public, although there were two budget open houses that took place in November.
"Following up on the CAO's comments about misinformation...I wondered if there's any appetite to go back to the public," Allen said.
"I just think that council and staff has spent considerable time on this, rightfully so. It's the most important decision [and] bylaw that we are going to bring forth each year, and I think be the public has a right to be able to comment openly."
At the time of his request, the budget had already been ratified by council, but the bylaw to pass the budget will be brought forward at a council meeting Dec. 15.
"I was expecting this question at the start of the meeting rather than the end," said Deputy Mayor Aakaash Desai. "At this point, I find it hard to say yes to this because of the decisions we've already made."
"We've also known what the budget schedule is going to be for ages, so I would have hoped that this this would have come up earlier in the process, rather than this late."
Allen suggested adding the meeting to provide the public with the opportunity for direct comment on the decisions that council has made.
"I don't see a downside to going to the public," Allen said. "It's their money we're spending and I think they deserve an opportunity to speak on exact amounts that we have decided on."
Coun. Tom Allwood also viewed a public meeting as a good opportunity to clarify the budget and the decisions made by council.
"I think we've talked about the importance of communicating with our ratepayers and public and, I think, given the concerns we have about the misinformation that's out there I think it would be a good opportunity to present the work that council and staff have done with the budget and the put the right numbers out there," he said.
Coun. Cathy Little and Desai questioned the purpose of bringing the budget back to the public, since it had already been ratified.
"We agreed to a process that we've been following, a schedule that we've been following," said Little. "It allowed for public input. We've had two open houses and opportunity for people to comment through the municipal office."
"My fear is that if we're not prepared to reconsider at this point, then we shouldn't be going back to the public because...it's lip service," said Little.
Given that council had already ratified the budget at the time of Allen's motion, any item that might be reconsidered following a public meeting would need to go through a reconsideration process and receive a two-thirds majority vote from council.
The motion to hold a public meeting on the budget was defeated 4-3.
