Council has now approved a 2021 city tax increase of 4.14%; combined with the Halton Region increase, this results in an overall increase of 2.5% or $18.99 per $100,000 of a home’s current value assessment (CVA).

The City of Burlington’s 2021 operating budget review has been unfolding since January during Corporate Services, Strategy, Risk and Accountability Committee (CSSRA) meetings, held virtually due to COVID-19 restrictions. A number of staff reports share context for the annual committee and council deliberations. Staff prepared the 2021 budget first as a base budget — business as usual — and separately identified one-time budget adjustments required as a result of COVID-19 (p. 20 of the budget book, which is posted on burlington.ca). The largest estimated impacts due to COVID-19 are in recreation, community, culture and transit. $2.18 million of the dedicated infrastructure renewal levy was redirected temporarily to offset COVID-19 impacts.

This article is based on finance report F-04-21-1, considered at the February 23 CSSRA meeting; discussions continued at the February 25 meeting. Appendix A of the report provides responses to questions asked by members of council. Appendix B is a list of items to reduce the 2021 operating budget, and Appendix C includes proposed amendments by members of council.

What is new for 2021 in the council-approved operating budget?

  • Seventeen new staff members:
    • Four in the planning department: coordinator of site plan review, two planning technologists, and an intermediate technician.
    • Three arborists. More than 460 service requests for tree inspections have not been started and there are 2021 incomplete work orders.
    • Three heavy equipment operators for road maintenance.
    • Two business intelligence staffto maintain data analytics technology.
    • Two bylaw enforcement officers on temporary contracts to assist with municipal law enforcement due to COVID-19.
    • One engagement and volunteer coordinator, shifted from contract to full-time.
    • One building technologist to meet workload demands and ensure timelines are met for review and issuance of building permits.
    • One solicitor to deal with planning and development matters, including implementation of the official plan. Councillor Sharman noted that council agreed to fund the position for six months, and since the position will be filled in July 2021, the balance of the annual funds will come from the 2022 budget. The budget book notes that the community planning department is expected to grow from a current staff complement of 29 to 51 over the next three years.
  • Free transit for seniors. This pilot was scheduled to end partway though 2021. The program allows seniors to ride public transit for free from Monday to Friday, between 9 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. Private citizen Lawson Hunter wondered why it would be cancelled when it “appeared to be a success” and suggested that the pilot be continued for another year.
  • Paid parking at Beachway Park with ten parking machines.
  • Extend reservation system pilot at Lowville Park (visitors must reserve a spot to enter the park by car).
  • Expand the heritage property tax rebate program to the commercial sector. Burlington has eight commercial heritage properties designated under the Ontario Heritage Act.
  • Strategic land acquisition decreased by $120,000.
  • Decrease of 10% in parking levy to provide relief to downtown business properties.

This list of what’s new is not exhaustive, but highlights key areas that we thought would be of interest to our readers.

At the March 3 special council meeting, council approved the 2021 operating budget with the following motion:

“Approve the 2021 operating budget including any budget amendments approved by the Corporate Services, Strategy, Risk Assessment Committee to be applied against the proposed net tax levy amount of $182,276,388; and…

Direct the chief financial officer to include the 2021 budgeted one-time draw from the tax rate stabilization reserve fund in the amount of $450,000 as an expense for future reporting/applications to the province on safe restart.”

In a recorded vote, Councillor Bentivegna voted against the recommendation while Mayor Meed Ward and Councillors Galbraith, Kearns, Nisan, Stolte, and Sharman supported the motion.

In comments before the vote, Councillor Nisan described the process as “a bit of a bruiser,” and, with a tax increase of 4.14%, “in a pandemic, it’s a great budget.” Councillor Galbraith commented that this was a tough year, the city “lost about $20 million.”  Mayor Meed Ward recognized the collective effort by council and noted that the overall increase is 2.5%. Councillor Stolte noted that, in her view, the tax rate is a balance of the needs of the community with financial stewardship. Councillor Sharman commented, as others did, that next year will be a tougher job. He noted that this year’s budget needed to recover services that have been underfunded. Councillor Kearns noted that over 400 pages of information were considered during the budget process and commented that this is a well-positioned budget and on track to help insulate from unknown impacts in future budgets. Councillor Bentivegna noted that many “have seen a reduction in their household income” and that “this pandemic has magnified the issues for me.” He did not vote in support of the budget at council.

What suggestions were not approved?

Changing leaf collection to one pickup per ward from two. An additional handi-van. Decreases to advisory committee budgets, culture initiatives, council salaries, and council events.

Each budget involves consideration of a variety of alternatives. These are just some of the changes considered during the 2021 budget process. City meeting agendas, minutes, and videos are posted on the city’s website at https://www.burlington.ca/en/your-city/agendas-and-minutes.asp if you would like more information about service business plans or any of the budget reports or meetings.