May 25, 2011
Town takes another
crack at budget
by Vance Gutzman
Deep River council is seeking ways of paring expenses in order for its
ratepayers to avoid a tax increase this year.
Council held a public meeting last week to gain input from its
residents as it continues to work on the 2011 budget.
Council's budget committee presented a couple of scenarios for the
public's consideration at that meeting - both of which would use the
full $289,516 operating surplus from last year to attain the goal of a
zero dollar tax increase.
As was reported in last week's NRT, driving factor behind that goal
lies in the fact the town is looking at an overall assessment increase
this year of more than $39.2 million, which will generate additional
tax revenue for the municipality of $517,647, using the 2010 tax rates.
The average residential assessment, meanwhile, has increased from
$122,594 in 2010 t0 $133,378 this year.
In one of the scenarios presented to the public last week, the budget
committee notes that, in order to reduce the municipal levy on an
average assessed home to zero, the town would need to reduce municipal
expenditures by $38,000.
If those savings can be found, while keeping an eye on impending
retrofit costs to the arena, the residential tax rate would decrease by
8.09 percent.
In terms of revenue, in addition to the surplus, the portion of the
education tax included in the town's payment in lieu revenues from
Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd have increased by $106,311 this year, owing
in part to assessment increases.
The town is also receiving an additional $314,800 in revenue this year
from the Ontario Municipal Partnership Fund, bringing its total
allotment from that revenue stream to $1,048,800.
Councillor Chris Carroll, who chairs council's budget committee, said
at last week's meeting that increased assessments, coupled with
increased revenues and last year's operating surplus, were the main
reason behind his committee's focus on mitigating tax increases in 2011.
"We have high taxes here, and we need to take some measures to address
that, but we're up to the challenge," Carroll said.
"We've benefited from some additional revenues. We need to give credit
to the taxpayers for that."
Deputy Mayor Mary MacCafferty was not of the same opinion, however, and
argued that the budget committee's focus is too narrow.
MacCafferty said the town will be spending more money this year than it
did last year, in the area of wages, for one, because it didn't have a
chief administrative officer for most of last year, nor a public works
manager for all of it.
"We're not making up for that this year by taxing for it," MacCafferty
said.
The deputy mayor also said the budget committee shouldn't be committing
"monies that are one-off" in terms of revenue to offset taxes.
"As a taxpayer, I don't want to get a (tax) break this year and then
get a big whack next year," she said.
Just two members of the public showed up for last week's public meeting
- one of whom, Larrie Thomson echoed MacCafferty's concerns.
Thomson said the town should be taking a closer look as to how it will
achieve long-term sustainability, as opposed to tax decreases for 2011.
Thomson cited the municipal sale of its hydro utility some years ago as
an example.
"That money is still being used for sustainability purposes," Thompson
said.
Former public works superintendent Bob Mclaren was the other member of
the public in attendance, and he felt cost-cutting initiatives should
very much be the order of the day.
"You need to sit down and go over the budget line by line," Mclaren
said, who said he found a potential $16,000 in savings in the town's
budget of his own accord.
"That was our approach when we started this process," Councillor
Carroll told Mclaren.
"We took a line by line approach," Carroll said, adding that the budget
committee will continue to look for areas of cost savings even after
the budget is passed and the year goes on.
"We're going to be looking at the 2012 budget in the 2011 year."
Nothing in the budget is carved in stone at this point, and council
will be discussing the hefty document at its next meeting in June.
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