ERIN – At a meeting Dec. 5 to review the draft budget, town councillors set aside an extra $70,000 towards a new fire truck to be purchased in 2020 and approved a 1.9 per cent cost of living increase for staff in 2019.
At the urging of Mayor Allan Alls, council also voted to pave the 5th Line, from Wellington Road 22 to Cedar Valley (Sideroad 24) in 2019, instead of 2020. This will be funded by development charges, so it will not directly impact taxes.
More changes are possible when the budget comes back for a final vote on Dec. 18, but for now the town tax increase sits at 1.5% for 2019.
Director of Finance Ursula D’Angelo said the original draft budget with an increase of just 0.5% would have meant an extra $7.31 on the tax bill of a home assessed at $500,000. A 1.5% hike would bump that up to about $22.
The proposed tax hike is not directly related to the staff pay increase. An amount for the increase was already in the budget as a contingency, said D’Angelo.
Council considered the pay increase in a closed session, then voted unanimously to approve it in open session. Councillor Jamie Cheyne declared a conflict of interest since he has a relative working at the arena, and abstained from the vote.
Council also approved a life insurance benefit for volunteer firefighters.
Councillor John Brennan proposed allocating an extra $70,000 towards the new fire tanker truck, funded by taxation in 2019, to lower the impact in 2020.
“If we can spread some of that pain a little earlier, it will give us some leeway,” said Brennan. His motion was supported by councillors Cheyne and Rob Smith.
Replacing the 1990 tanker is planned for 2020 at a cost of $450,000, with $200,000 already to come from the fire vehicle reserve and $250,000 from taxation. Putting the extra $70,000 into the reserve in 2019 means only $180,000 will be needed from taxation in 2020.
Prior to that motion, the amount being transferred to reserves for all purposes in the 2019 budget was $858,330, an increase of $130,300 from 2018, with planned transfers out of reserves totaling $217,770. The town’s total reserves are about $11 million and are predicted to be more than $17 million by 2022.
The infrastructure tax levy is being increased by $100,000 or 17%. D’Angelo said this will “better position the town to fund infrastructure projects such as roads, bridges and buildings, which continuously puts pressure on the limited funding that the town is able to generate.”
No new debt is expected in 2019, with the debt balance declining from $3.9 million to $3.6 million. Planned projects will push the balance up to almost $5.5 million in 2020.
The 5th Line paving was one of two paving jobs planned for 2020, at a combined cost of $225,000. The other is Sideroad 17, which was recently paved westward to 2nd Line. The additional work will take the pavement two more concessions, linking to Wellington Road 26 which is the Town of Erin boundary.
The work on 5th Line south of Cedar Valley, which Alls said could be done for between $80,000 and $100,000, will create a paved bypass to the bridge and dam on Station Street in Hillsburgh, which will be closed for almost a year for reconstruction in 2019.
Alls said the project is also important because it will enable convenient paved access to new development at Cedar Valley and to the new Hillsburgh library just west of the Station Street project.
Total direct labour costs for the town are dropping in 2019 by $490,100 to a total of $3.9 million in 2019, one of many changes to the budget related to the Ontario Clean Water Agency taking over operation of the water department. The cost of service agreements is rising by $638,300 to $894,760.
Other decreases include supplies and materials (-$107,220), general maintenance (-71,650), and consulting services (-$113,800).
Vehicle maintenance is budgeted at $229,400, hydro expenses are estimated at $541,450 and debt servicing will cost $432,600.
The list of capital projects includes the Station Street bridge and dam at $2.5 million ($1.6 million covered by a grant), a storm sewer on Daniel St. from English Street to Wheelock Street in Erin village at $520,000, two culverts at $600,000, fire equipment at $115,000, water needs at $106,000 and recreation jobs totaling $353,000.
Recreation work includes $160,000 at the Erin Community Centre for accessibility renovations, a new flat roof and an ice resurfacer, $40,000 for online booking software and $63,000 for parks fencing, playground equipment, a tractor and bleachers.
