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With budget talks beginning Monday, property taxes and service levels on the line

The knives will be out Monday as Barrie councillors debate the 2021 operating and capital budget, which sets property tax and service levels. Budget talks begin with homeowners facing a blended (municipal, education) 3.

The knives will be out Monday as Barrie councillors debate the 2021 operating and capital budget, which sets property tax and service levels.

Budget talks begin with homeowners facing a blended (municipal, education) 3.75 per cent property tax increase this year, or paying another $166 on a typical house assessed at $367,550, bringing 2021’s taxes on that property to $4,620 from $4,454 in 2020.

Brandon Rheal Amyot of Engage Barrie, which advocates for local democracy, says the city has kept its property tax increases fairly low during the past few years.

“Taxes are not evil and there’s sometimes a misconception about taxes,” Amyot said. “They support our municipal services, which we all utilize and so really the question is… how is our money being spent and is it being spent wisely? Are we seeing added services or increased capacity in the existing services?

“The challenge is you could go for a zero per cent increase, you could go for a reduced increase, but the problem is you are always playing catch-up,” Amyot added. “We really have to think about priorities in a budget to make sure we are spending wisely.”

Mayor Jeff Lehman has a plan to cut the property tax increase to 0.9 per cent, or $41 more for that typical home, bringing its 2021 property taxes to $4,495. It would use Safe Restart (federal/provincial) money, fund the city’s growth strategy from Barrie Hydro Holdings dividends and the tax rate stabilization reserve, reduce the dedicated infrastructure renewal fund in 2021, and remove the additional operating budget contribution to the fleet replacement project, among other measures.

Coun. Sergio Morales, chairman of the city’s finance and corporate services committee, has floated the possibility of no property tax increase this year. His plan uses a combination of the city’s federal/provincial funding to battle COVID-19, lowering city operating costs while on pandemic shutdown, using any 2020 property tax surplus against this year’s tax increase, reserves and dividends from the city’s stake in electricity provider Alectra to get to zero per cent.

The tax increase for Barrie’s operational and capital expenses stands at 2.75 per cent, plus another one per cent for the dedicated infrastructure renewal fund; that one per cent is worth $2.5 million for roads, pipes, etc.

Amyot says Engage Barrie encouraged residents to use the city’s Budget Allocator tool, so they could comment on potential spending, and councillors need to both listen to and act upon the results.

One city expense Amyot wants changed is policing. City police are asking for $57.3 million in municipal funding this year, a 2.65 per cent or $391,458 increase from 2020. But almost 64 per cent of Allocator respondents support decreasing police spending by five per cent, 30 per cent support maintaining current spending and six per cent support increasing police spending by five per cent.

“What we’re calling for is for council to decrease the police budget, or ideally have a no-growth budget,” Amyot said. “And that would not only respect the hundreds of people who participated in the budget process, but also the people who’ve been calling for rethinking public safety and what our community looks like over the past year.

“And if we did free up those funds we’d have more to spend on other vital services  such as libraries, transit and municipal service partners such as social services and housing. Council does have the authority to go back to the police and say ‘can you reduce the overall ask by ‘X’ and come back to us with that request?”

The Barre Police Service has 244 officers and 118 civilians whose salaries and benefits take up 95.7 per cent of the police budget, and its 2021 budget includes no new hires.

“This is a reasonable budget, that strikes a balance between effective service delivery to our community and fiscal concerns,” Greg Ferguson, chairman of the Barrie Police Services Board, told council during the Jan. 11 presentation of the 2021 police budget.

Barrie Police Chief Kimberley Greenwood has said the council-issued guidance of a 1.95 per cent increase would have resulted in not replacing several positions on the force and straining the service.

The salaries, benefits and overtime of Barrie police officers and civilians will cost almost $52.8 million this year, a 2.4 per cent increase from 2020. Salaries are 76 per cent of that total, benefits 23 per cent and overtime one per cent.

Police have a 2021 capital budget of almost $1.85 million  with 38 per cent for fleet (police vehicles), 24 per cent for information technology, 19 per cent for a radio system upgrade and radio equipment, 11 per cent for special equipment and eight per cent for body worn cameras. This began as a pilot project last year and has a 2021 budget of $140,000 to equip 140 front-line police officers.

The police facilities operating budget  for the Fairview Road headquarters, Bell Farm Road training centre and Maple Avenue downtown office  will be just more than $1 million this year.

Police calls for service are roughly 20 per cent criminal and 80 per cent non-criminal, 60 per cent non-emergency and 40 per cent emergency. In 2019, city police officers dealt with 74,000 occurrences, made 7,052 arrests and lodged 3,113 prisoners.

“They are having an increase in calls for service, but most of those calls are not necessarily in areas relevant to them,” Amyot said. “They could be better served by other parts of where our municipal funding goes.”

Other areas in the city budget could also increase this year.

Barrie Public Library, with downtown and Painswick branches, wants another $161,989 from the city to maintain its services this year  bringing its municipal request to almost $8.5 million, an increase of 1.95 per cent.

The library’s total 2021 budget is $9.7 million, which is offset by $1.2 million in revenues: transfer from reserves ($718,257), a local board contribution ($194,322), pay equity ($164, 307) and a provincial grant ($107,500). Salaries and benefits account for $5.8 million of the library budget. 

The library board is also asking for a third branch in Holly, to be located in leased space in a commercial plaza in the Mapleton Avenue/Essa Road area. The new branch carries a $1.18-million capital cost, to be paid from development charges and fundraising, and annual operating costs of $723,877. This would include $221,000 for salaries and benefits. 

The Holly branch would be about 4,500 square feet and has been described  as ‘boutique library space.’ The downtown branch was built in 1996 and is 56,200 sq. ft., while the Painswick branch is 15,000 sq. ft. and was built in 2011. 

Last year, Barrie Public Library gained 5,500 members, had more than 461,000 physical items borrowed, 276,000 e-books, e-audiobooks and e-magazines borrowed, and had 24,703 people attend 1,341 programs offered.

The County of Simcoe provides paramedic services, Ontario Works, children’s services, social housing, long-term care (LTC) and more to Barrie. Its 2021 operating and capital budget for Barrie totals $26.857 million.

Compared to the county’s 2020 budget of $24.9 million, that’s $1.9 million or 7.7 per cent more. But county officials are forecasting city costs of $25.47 million last year, $1.4 million or 5.4 per cent more.

The county says COVID-19 has increased its staffing costs, as has personal protection equipment and cleaning needs in long-term care homes and with paramedics, along with in social housing.

One of Barrie’s largest expenses with the county is for land ambulances, or paramedics services, at $6.58 million in 2021  although it’s down from $7 million last year. There are 17 ambulance stations and six posts in Simcoe County, with 72 vehicles which respond to 85,000 calls annually.

An expense that is increasing is for Barrie’s share of LTC homes, up $754,000, in part because of COVID prevention and protection. The county has four LTC homes and 544 beds, with three new beds coming on-steam in 2020.

Major facility construction this year includes $494,000 for Simcoe Manor’s redevelopment, and totals almost $3.16 million, an increase from $2.34 million in 2020.

The City of Barrie is bound by service agreements with the County of Simcoe to pay its share, based on a formula including population and property assessment.

The Barre Fire and Emergency Service (BFES) operating budget is set to increase by 1.8 per cent or $487,000 this year, and most of that (1.72 per cent) is for salaries and benefits. Salaries and benefits are 97.2 per cent of the fire department’s operational budget.

The $27.5-million operating budget does include other increased spending  on personal protective equipment, medical and cleaning supplies to mitigate COVID-19 exposures, and expanding health and wellness assessments for BFES personnel. But revenue generated by long-term emergency communications contracts with other municipalities, grant revenues and internal transfer funding offset the BFES budget expenses by $211,000.

There are also 11 new firefighters starting in March 2021. BFES has 144 operations firefighters with a total staff of 187, the remainder being in communications, prevention, training and administration.

This year, the city is also going to finish buying a technical rescue truck in the capital budget. There’s already $375,000 put aside from the fleet management reserve, and another $375,000 is required from the same reserve, to buy the $750,000 vehicle. A large quantity of equipment in this vehicle is used during a technical rescue, such as high- and low-angle rope rescue, confined space and ice/water rescues.

The new truck will replace one 26 years old which requires a combined $75,000 in refurbishing to better store equipment, and in body work. Due to its age the availability of parts is also becoming a concern. The new truck should be delivered late 2021 or early 2022.

On that typical $367,550 Barrie home with 2021 property taxes of $4,620, approximately $883 is for policing, $424 is for fire and emergency services, $318 is for the County of Simcoe’s services and $141 to maintain library services.

Water fees would increase in this budget by 2.48 per cent or $8.83 a year on a typical home; its water fees were $356 this year. And sewer, or wastewater, fees would increase by 2.41 per cent, or $12.21 a year on a typical home which paid $507 in 2020. That’s another $21.04 in total in water/sewer rates next year.

Monday’s virtual general committee meeting on the operating and capital budget is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. City council is expected to give final approval to the 2021 budget at its Jan. 25 meeting.