Guelph-Eramosa’s first draft of its preliminary 2016 budget shows a 6.2 per cent estimated tax increase over last year.
The total draft budget is $6.1 million, up $434,120 from last year’s $5.7 million budget. The value does not include water, wastewater or the building department, which are user-based services.
On Jan. 13, Guelph-Eramosa council met for its first chance to hear each department’s estimated budget, director of finance Linda Cheyne explained to the Advertiser.
The following figures are preliminary and may change prior to final approval.
Fire protection
The largest increase in the fire protection budget is in salaries and wages, which are rising to $315,000 from $254,000 in 2015.
Contributing to the increase are a new fire prevention officer who has a minimum of eight hours of work a week, an increase in the deputy fire chief’s hours, seven new firefighters, firefighter salary adjustments, and additional programs.
Last year there were also six long-duration fires, deputy fire chief Richard Renaud said, noting, “They all have major impacts on our salary line.”
“You’re almost like the roads budget to some degree,” said Mayor Chris White.
“In other words, if you get a bunch of fires this goes up, if you get no fires this goes down.”
CAO Ian Roger explained, “We’re trying to find the number … 95% of the time staff can hit, recognizing we can’t control the number of fires staff have to go out to.”
Another increase is in computer support. The 2016 proposed budget is $8,500, up $2,700US from last year’s budget of $5,000.
The department is changing the firehouse reporting system to go to an Enterprise system, which is the same as the City of Guelph. The city will eventually do Guelph-Eramosa’s dispatching, Renaud said.
The total proposed budget for fire protection in 2016 is $943,178, up $45,175 from $898,003 in 2015.
Building department
Chief building official Dan Sharina said two of the areas where the department is asking for double or more in funding over last year is in advertising ($1,000) and communications ($1,600) because of the anticipation of a new inspector.
The advertising budget is higher to put ads out for the position, and the communication budget is up because the municipality will be giving the inspector a cell phone.
White explained that the building department is supposed to be self-funding.
“So if we did run into a scenario where you ended up with a $10,000 legal bill I would assume that we’d fund it, then eventually pull it back out,” White said.
The total preliminary budget for the building department in 2016 is $320,405 – compared to $315,269 in 2015.
Bylaw enforcement
Clerk Meaghen Reid explained the township’s permanent bylaw enforcement officer left last year and the township has been working with a temporary contract employee.
Reid said the township is considering sharing a permanent full-time bylaw enforcement officer with the Town of Erin and the employee would divide his or her time evenly between the two municipalities.
The bylaw officer will also have flexible hours so he or she will be able to work in the evenings and on weekends.
Guelph-Eramosa would be the host municipality for the shared bylaw enforcement officer and Erin would provide its portion of the salary and wages to the township.
White said the bylaw officer will respond to calls from residents in each municipality regardless of which area they’re assigned to on any given day.
“It’s like you’ve got a full-time person as the calls come in, but the allocation’s split up,” White said.
The total budget allocation proposal for bylaw and property standards in 2016 is $43,939 compared to $36,045 in 2015.
Canine control
Reid proposed forming an agreement with the Guelph Humane Society to provide canine services for the township because the current service provider is leaving the business.
“When we initially started talking with the Guelph Humane Society, we talked to them about … our stats and the response that we got from them was that, ‘you’re grossly underestimating your stats,’ because they are receiving a lot of calls from our residents already,” Reid said.
“Most people in the municipality think that Guelph Humane Society is already providing that service anyways.”
Councillor Corey Woods said he thought the service would be a good fit.
Reid said, “I think it’s good value for dollar. I think right now we are listing a steep decline in our dog tags over the last few years and I think maybe some dog owners don’t feel that there’s any value to that.”
Using the Guelph Humane Society’s services will show residents what they are getting for their fees.
Woods said he hopes the humane society won’t be “militant” about animal control measures and monitoring.
“They’re level of proactive enforcement will be set by us,” Reid said.
Councillor Louise Marshall questioned what would happen to the township’s “cheap” dog licensing fees. Reid said the township will remain in control of fees.
The total proposed budget for canine control in 2016 is $24,050, up $23,600 from last year’s $450 budget.
Roads
Director of public works Harry Niemi pointed out there was a $5,000 increase in the proposed budget for bridges and culverts, taking the proposed total to $35,000 in 2016. He said the increase is mainly due bi-annual bridge inspection.
Debenture payments increased to $395,868 for 2016 compared to $265,104 last year.
“That’s based on the roads portion of the debenture overall to fund the capital projects that were discussed prior to Christmas,” Niemi said.
White said the capital budget for roads is going to be re-evaluated and will come back to council for further consideration.
Niemi also pointed out an increase in proposed wages and salaries. In 2016 the number is $898,000, up from $865,680 last year because there could be a summer student hired.
The public works proposed budget is about $3 million, up $192,216 from last year’s budget of $2.8 million.
Parks and recreation
Under the Ontario Sport Recreation Community Fund in 2015 the municipality received $68,000 that must be spent before March 2017, director of parks and recreation Robin Milne said.
The municipality also received money through the Ontario Seniors’ Secretariat Fund – $8,000 that must be spent by March. A portion of these grants will be used for programming costs. Milne also said the department submitted an application for a Trillium grant of $150,000 for Rockmosa Park and should know within the next couple of months if it was accepted.
The department is also setting a donation goal of $66,442 for the skate park.
Marden Park is budgeted to make $321,000 in revenue for 2016.
“In general the thing is paying for itself,” White said.
“The quality of life and the stuff we’re providing and I think it really gave that community a home again”
One of the biggest expense increases was in hydro, jumping to $59,000 from $41,000 in 2015.
Councillor David Wolk asked if there was an option to use alternative energy sources like solar panels. However, Milne said the warranty on the Royal Distributing Athletic Performance Centre’s roof does not permit solar panel installation.
The total proposed budget for parks and recreation is $952,213, up $67,296 from $884,917 last year.
Planning
The total proposed budget for planning is $198,892, down $6,399 from $205,291 in 2015. Included in that is $30,000 for anticipated Ontario Municipal Board hearings and $10,000 to start building a reserve to cover costs for appeals.
General government
The total proposed budget for general government in 2016 is $832,917 compared to $740,426 in 2015.
The township will be scheduling more budget discussions in the future.
