Burlington council grapples with tax hike
Some councillors proposed using reserves, but others have resisted that option
At two meetings last week, a Burlington committee struggled to find ways to cut a proposed 4.99 per cent local tax hike, which would result in an overall 2.88 per cent increase. (Taxes consist of three parts: city, region and education.)
The city usually faces the highest percentage increase number because it has the smallest tax base. Mayor Marianne Meed Ward alerted councillors she intended to reduce this to a 3.99 per cent increase for an overall hike of 2.43.
The process was questionable. I don’t recall ever going into closed session on a budget in my 15 council years. That happened twice last week, for long periods, and Coun. Shawna Stolte expressed concern.
We learned that Burlington doesn’t have an employee suggestion box system. Does it solicit fresh ideas from desk jockeys? I recall Tim Armstrong, from my ward, winning provincewide acclaim for devising a safer way to enter storm and sanitary sewer systems.
Tuesday’s meeting began at 9:30 a.m., and ran until 9:45 at night, when exhausted councillors were past their “best before” time. Thursday’s lasted another four hours, and ended badly because of chair Rory Nisan.
By then the city increase was down to 4.14 per cent — overall 2.5. Nisan tried repeatedly to get councillors to change their minds. The chair is supposed to be neutral. If councillors are unwilling to reconsider, so be it.
Angelo Bentivegna had proposed massive cuts, and accepted council’s responses amicably. He asked, “Why do we have to reconsider votes we’ve already taken?”
Angst arose over suggestions to use more reserves. To be clear, in 2019 Meed Ward persuaded a majority — and five of the seven were new with only three months behind them — to allot a good portion of the $3,883,800 reserve drawdown to advance the Elgin Street promenade, reducing council’s future flexibility.
I think it was $680,000. When I searched, the city’s website listed 3,156 undated options, most of which bore no relationship to the topic. A good investment would be for a decent search engine!
Kelvin Galbraith said he’d been criticized by business people then for using the reserves. Paul Sharman echoed concern about dipping in to reserves, as did Shawna Stolte and Lisa Kearns.
Reconsideration lost, five to two (Nisan and Meed Ward).
Meed Ward later said she had suggestions to reduce the increase for the March 3 council meeting. Because this column is due before that meeting, I’m unable to offer the outcome now.
The committee axed several costs, and approved others. Last year council implemented a pilot project of free seniors’ transit between 9 a.m. and 2:30, when ridership is low anyway. This will continue.
Council had also emphasized protecting trees and increasing the canopy. Committee added a forestry crew of three, so the growing backlog of diseased, dead and dangerous trees will be addressed. There will only be one leaf pickup, which could prove problematic if the weather doesn’t co-operate.
Requests to add staff were contentious, but previous councils (and this one) had denied prior ones, resulting in work not being done, or done on overtime.
With the onset of COVID-19, the city eliminated its part-time employees, keeping highly experienced ones to get it through the ensuing chaos, requiring constant pivoting to comply with new rules. Assessment growth lagged, and facilities closed, generating little or no revenue, so how can a city function properly?
Regular updates have been eyeopeners, because services must be provided — some within deadlines. It’s easy to armchair quarterback but, having examined budgets both from inside and outside, I appreciate the problems, and believe, on the whole, council is coping reasonably. Again, our superb finance department excelled, providing COVID costs separately. The complete budget is available online.
Sharman warned that next year‘s budget will be particularly difficult, with a projected 5.25 per cent city increase. And 2022 is an election year, so council won’t want a big increase.
If you believe your skills would enable you to do the job better, consider running for council.