Archive

Little progress made in bid to bar town tax increase

January 21, 2015   ·   0 Comments

Orangeville Council had been expected to make some progress on the 2015 Town budget Monday night but they didn’t get very far before adjournment was called just after 11 p.m.

Following the regular council meeting and a closed session, councillors re-convened for the budget meeting and decided not to discuss the capital budget in too much detail, focusing instead on the operating budget.

Not much had changed since the staff-produced draft budget was first presented on Dec. 15. The budget proposes a 3.33 per cent tax increase, which translates to an extra $91.56 for the average Orangeville home with an appraised value of $339,946. The proposal includes a $51.4-million operating budget, including $11.8 million collected through water and wastewater rates, and a $14.7-million capital budget of which $1.3 million is to be supported by the tax levy.

Some members of council are opposed to the proposed tax hike and want no increase beyond the 2014 rate.

“It is my hope that there will be no increase on this year’s budget,” said Coun. Nick Garisto. “We have to show leadership and hopefully others will follow. I think the taxpayers of the Town of Orangeville need a break.”

Mayor Jeremy Williams agreed. He suggested taking a few items out of the budget enhancements, including sending a member of council to Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) conference, which would cost $5,000.

Coun. Gail Campbell said she could not support pulling council representation at the FCM conference. Coun. Scott Wilson is slated to attend the annual conference. While she supported no cost-of-living adjustment  for council salaries, she was adamant that Town staff needs a raise.

“They are our product, they need to have a raise,” she said. “I believe workshops and courses are absolutely crucial for us and for the people who work for the Town of Orangeville.”

One of the items brought up at the meeting was the Orangeville Hydro dividend refund. There was some confusion about where the money was coming from.

In 2013, the Town received a $1-million special dividend from Orangeville Hydro. Town Treasurer Brian Parrott explained that the dividend was transferred directly to the Community Infrastructure Reserve (the capital reserve).

In June, Nick Garisto came before Council as a private citizen and requested that Council return 50 per cent of the special dividend to taxpayers. Council referred consideration of the request to the budget process for further consideration.

“To make such a refund happen, the $500,000 would have to be removed from the now ‘General Capital Reserve Fund’ and returned in some fashion to the ratepayers,” said Mr. Parrott. “Conversely, Council could spend $500,000 more on capital projects without affecting the tax levy.”

Local resident Alan Toms said that the presentation by Town staff shows the return of $500,000 coming from the tax levy, when it shouldn’t be. Mr. Parrott explained that was correct; it would come from the reserve. However, staff was trying to show the tax levy impact attributed to the amount, that is, if the Town has to raise $500,000 on the tax levy, it would represent an increase of 1.76 per cent.

“This is a tax-levy-equivalent put into a capital levy reserve,” he explained. “It wouldn’t be an additional tax, it would simply deplete the capital reserve.”

He added that to get to the proposed tax-rate increase, $400,000 is proposed to be put into reserves, whereas normally $1.4 million would be put in.

Coun. Garisto, who is also chair of the finance committee, said it’s important for that money to go back to the taxpayers.

“The money came from the residents, it came from hydro dividends and in my opinion the money belongs to the users of the hydro, which, in this case, they are the Orangeville taxpayers,” he said.

Just before 11 p.m., a motion was made to adjourn the meeting. Coun. Garisto made a motion to defer the discussion to the next meeting, which is to be held next Monday night, Jan. 26.

Readers Comments (0)