Residents here will see a two per cent increase in their town tax bills next year.
In a first for this council, the 2017 budget was approved before the end of the year – and unanimously – which councillors attributed to a new budget process.
At the Dec. 7 special meeting, council passed a bylaw for a total budget of $16.2 million, including $10.6 million for operating costs and $5.6 million for capital items.
The town tax increase of 2% equals a $28.51 increase for a house assessed at $500,000 (the 2016 increase was over $35 for a $500,000 home).
Combined with taxes levied by the province and the county (using the county’s proposed 3.4% increase, which has not yet been finalized), Erin residents will see a blended rate increase of 2.41%, or about $138 on the total tax bill for a house assessed at $500,000.
Director of finance Ursula D’Angelo said overall assessment growth across Erin was 3.68% (more than the anticipated 0.91%). That helped reduce the impact of an actual tax levy increase of about 2.5% to a 2% tax increase.
D’Angelo added the budget reaffirms the town’s commitment to infrastructure and services, as almost 84% of the capital budget will be used for roads and water repair projects.
D’Angelo explained the general levy will decrease in 2017, however the infrastructure levy will increase over 2016.
“What we’re doing is refocusing the taxation dollars over to infrastructure,” she said.
D’Angelo said the town is taking on $1.2 million in debt in 2017 for capital projects and there will be further debt expected for 2018.
Mayor Allan Alls, said he does not like taking on debt, but agreed debt for long life span capital projects was “fair.”
“Why should I, at my age, or anybody here at this table, pay for something that a generation after is going to use, but within limits,” he said.
“We do have to be careful that we don’t put ourselves up against a wall, where we can’t borrow any more money.”
Highlights of the capital budget include:
– $1.2 million for Station Street and bridge rehabilitation;
– $1.2 million for Daniel Street reconstruction in Erin village;
– $606,000 for bridge maintenance;
– $303,000 for municipal office renovations;
– $50,000 for the design of Fire Station 10 expansion; in Erin village;
– $85,000 for a diesel fumes extractor at fire hall 10; and
– $90,000 for Erin Rotary Riverwalk.
Alls joked the 2017 budget was the first of three budgets that was passed unanimously by the current council.
“It’s the first time in 10 years the budget’s been completed before year-end,” added councillor John Brennan.
The new budget process included three meetings. The first was for heads of departments to make their case for resource and capital requests, the second was for public input and for council to make decisions, and the final meeting was to pass the budget.
“At the end of the day I think we did a good balance … between the requests that we had from our staff, the recommendations we had from our senior staff, the council input and some of the public comments we had,” said councillor Jeff Duncan.
Interim CAO Derek McCaughan said the change was not smooth.
“It might have appeared smooth to members of the public and council, but I assure you, internally, there is considerable frustration as we all learned how to do things differently,” he said.
