Beelen leads charge on budget cuts
During a four-hour budget workshop on Wednesday Clearview council cut $538,000 in spending from taxation in order to bring the net tax increase down to 3.68 per cent.
Many of the cuts were proposed by Councillor Marty Beelen who looked to trim what he referred to as “nicessities” not necessities.
“I feel that we are spending too much money on fluff. I think when times are tough you take the luxuries away first,” said Beelen at the beginning of the meeting. “This is a tough budget and I think it’s hard for people to swallow. Even where we’re at… it’s a big increase for people and when they see money being wasted they kinda get angry about it.”
Clearview councillors started looking at the taxation-funded proposed $21.7 million municipal budget last month with back-to-back budget workshops when they heard from staff about the projects planned for 2025. The Dec. 4 workshop provided council an opportunity to tailor the budget to their liking in advance of presenting it to the public.
When council first looked at the numbers, the Clearview portion of the budget had an increase of 10.6 per cent. When they started on Wednesday, the increase was at 5.24 per cent increase, and by the end of the workshop, it was down to 4.84 per cent.
Treasurer Kelly MacDonald opened Wednesday’s meeting with good news that new growth in the township would reduce the budget by $652,834, helping to spread the tax burden to more homeowners. The township also received news that the Ontario government is proposing to provide over $77 million in financial relief to municipalities to help offset the increased cost of municipal police services provided by the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP), bringing the policing increase down to an estimated 0.58 per cent.
The township also collects tax on behalf of the County of Simcoe, which has approved a budget with a tax increase of 3.63 per cent, and education taxes are still expected to hold steady at a 0 per cent increase.
The budget will be presented to the public for comment in January, after which council can make further amendments.
As it stands, residents will see a $45.52 increase on their tax bill for every $100,000 of their property’s assessed value.
Budget cuts:
• Reducing a $200,000 transfer to the Affordable Seniors Housing Reserve by $100,000 to leave the reserve with a balance of $600,000 (moved by Councillor Robert Walker);
• Transferring a $120,000 repair to the roof of the tourism building in Stayner to be funded from reserves (moved by Deputy Mayor Paul Van Staveren);
• Delaying a renovation to the kitchen area of the community hall at the Creemore arena to 2026 which would reduce taxation by $35,000 (moved by Councillor Marty Beelen);
• Cancelling $5,000 in sponsorship for the Purple Hills Arts and Heritage Society’s Creemore Festival of the Arts (moved by Councillor Marty Beelen);
• Reducing the Centre Line Road reconstruction project by $250,000 (moved by Councillor Robert McArthur);
• Reducing the tourism and events budget by $5,000 (moved by Councillor Marty Beelen – the reduction stemmed from a debate about paying for local musicians who perform at markets and events in the township, which Beelen called “excess entertainment”);
• Denying additional funding for planning consultant services in the amount of $23,000 (moved by Mayor Doug Measures).
There was one addition to the budget:
• Beelen moved that $6,500 be added to the Huronia West OPP Detachment Police Services Board budget to cover the cost of insurance, shared between all three municipalities served by Huron West OPP.
Items that did not impact taxation:
• Pickleball courts in Creemore estimated to cost $100,000 have been put on hold and staff has been tasked with investigating the use of the arena floor or the existing tennis courts at Gowan Park (moved by Deputy Mayor Paul Van Staveren).
• Beelen also proposed removing $30,000 for trail development, which turned out to be matching funds for the County of Simcoe’s trail funds that staff would like to use to create a pathway from the subdivision in Avening into Carruthers Memorial Park. The motion failed as it did not have enough votes.
