2021 Budget Consultation

The Finance Advisory Committee (FAC) reviewed the proposed Budget, provided feedback to the Finance Department and made recommendations to Council. This included advising Council to direct staff to prioritize within the constraints of available funding.  You can read the complete FAC recommendation with respect to the 2021 Program Operating and project Budgets HERE. 

Prioritization of Operating Budget requests was based on first addressing inflationary increases, then those if left unaddressed that would result in a reduction to service levels and subsequently those that would result in increased service levels.  

Prioritization of Capital Budget requests was based on the risk of disruption to services that could result from failure of assets, safety concerns and potential liability exposure. Renewal and replacement of assets that could not be included in the year requested were deferred or pushed out to a later year. 

You can read the staff reports presented to the Finance Advisory Committee and watch the recording of the meeting in the links, below. 

• FAC Meeting - October 28, 2020 
• FAC Meeting - November 10, 2020 

The status of the General Fund statutory Reserve balances and infrastructure funding needs for the next five years was reviewed with the FAC. Both the General Fund Reserve balances and the annual contribution to Reserves are not adequate to address the long-term infrastructure maintenance and renewal needs of the Municipality.  

In 2010, Council approved a 1.5% annual tax levy increase dedicated to address the infrastructure renewal and replacement funding gap. 2020 was the final year for implementation of this policy-based increase.    

The FAC recommended that the contribution to the Capital Renewal and Replacement Reserve be increased annually from 1.5% to a 2% tax levy increase effective 2021 through to 2025. This represents a $114,200 increase in the tax levy for 2021.