Budget trimmed again
Clearview Council will take a proposed tax increase of 4.5 per cent to the public at its Town Hall meeting on Monday, April 30, after four months of workshops and a final day of cuts and deferrals this past Monday.
That 4.5 per cent would be a net effect increase to residents’ municipal taxes, encompassing a 6.79 per cent increase to Clearview Township’s levy, a 3.55 per cent increase in Simcoe County’s take and no increase to the education portion. Simcoe County’s tax increase is actually 1.5 per cent for 2012, but the amount that Clearview pays the County to deal with its residents’ waste and recycling has increased by $150,000, which is equivalent to two extra percentage points.
The 4.5 per cent figure is still not set in stone, as members of the public will have the chance to comment on the budget at the Town Hall Meeting, and Council will deliberate once more following that before passing its 2012 budget on April 30.
But if the number were to stick, it would mean the owner of the average home in Clearview Township would pay an extra $129 in taxes this year – a total of $3,033 compared to $2,904 in 2011.
In order to bring the increase down from 6.3 per cent, the number which had been predicted the week before, Council made several tweaks on Monday. A $40,000 organizational study, inserted into the budget earlier this year in light of the fact that three Township senior staff members are set to retire in the next two years, was taken out; the repaving of Sunnidale 3-4 Sideroad from Concession 9 to Concession 7, estimated at $125,000, was deferred to 2013; renovations to the Avening Hall, budgeted at $40,000, were deferred to next year; a replacement of the administration centre’s telephone system, at a cost of $35,000, was deferred to 2014; and the $28,250 repairs to the Stayner Library’s roof was deferred to 2013. Several other smaller changes were made; in total, $327,850 was taken out of this year’s budget, $185,850 was moved to next year and $55,000 was pushed off until 2014.
That raised the concern among some at the table that this year’s hefty tax increase was merely being postponed until next year.
Councillor Thom Paterson then raised the topic of service cuts, saying “there’s millions of dollars we’re spending that we never look at.” Deputy Mayor Alicia Savage agreed that the Township’s base level costs should be looked at, and a discussion ensued about whether next year’s budget process could be started even earlier, in order to look more closely at things like contract services and staffing.
It was then agreed that the 4.5 per cent increase should be taken to the public for input, before one last working session on April 16.
