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Storm levy hike by $38 for 2023 budget

More cuts have been made to this year’s operating budget last week, as the town eliminated $300,000 from its planned expenses, which would have gone toward a full clean-out of two stormwater ponds, plus approximately $54,000 after nixing plans to hire a
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Councillors also voted to reduce suggested hirings, including a climate change coordinator.

More cuts have been made to this year’s operating budget last week, as the town eliminated $300,000 from its planned expenses, which would have gone toward a full clean-out of two stormwater ponds, plus approximately $54,000 after nixing plans to hire a full-time climate change coordinator to tackle the town’s Climate Change Adaptation Plan.

The review committee met for a third discussion on the 2023 operating budget on Monday, March 20. They’ve been digging into the planned tax hike for Niagara-on-the-Lake homeowners of 8.56 per cent (based on this year’s average assessed home value of $541,000), or $104 more in property taxes, compared to 2022.

For residents living in the urban areas of town, this would have included another $50.33 in taxes for stormwater management, bringing their total tax hike to 11.6 per cent.

However, finance director Kyle Freeborn told councillors staff have re-adjusted stormwater management plans for this year to bring the budget down to about $970,000 from $1.27 million. “The original intent was to do a full clean-out costing $500,000,” Freeborn said. “We reduced the overall cost to focus on pond maintenance and defer a full clean-out for three to four years.”

The town will need to incur more costs going forward to finish the job, Freeborn said, but staff will pull together a longer-term operational maintenance plan to clean out its ponds in phases.

This translates to the stormwater bill for taxpayers going up by $11.68, or $38.65 in savings. Last year’s stormwater budget was approximately $879,000. It leaves $200,000 left in the budget for work on storm pond maintenance.

“We’re working through the priority ponds right now,” said Rome D’Angelo, director of operations. “We will be coming back with a report with all the ponds and putting a five to 10-year plan on how we’re going to cash flow the capital in cleaning all the ponds.”

Council and staff also continued its review of the new salaried business cases it plans to take on for 2023, including the hiring of full-time employees as well as contract jobs being converted to permanent positions. They went down the line of these positions in a prioritized rank.

After significant discussion about the merits of hiring a full-time climate change coordinator at a $54,140 partial salary for 2023 (which would be $83,293 for a full year in 2024), council voted to push the hiring of this employee to next year in a 4-3 split decision (Lord Mayor Gary Zalepa was not in the room for the vote).

Coun. Nick Ruller introduced the motion, suggesting the town should be prioritizing its funding and hiring of staff for initiatives which already exist, such as a mechanic and a health and safety coordinator, both on the list for 2023.

“We need to support existing programs and existing initiatives,” he said.

As explained by CAO Marnie Cluckie, the climate change coordinator would have been in charge of implementing the town’s Climate Change Adaptation Plan, which council approved last spring. This would have included leading municipal projects to reduce flooding risks, developing an urban forestry management plan, improving stormwater management, and more.

It would also have included tackling provincially-legislated requirements around energy conservation, including annual reporting, on which Cluckie said the municipality is behind.

O’Connor voiced her opposition to deferring this position, based on the importance of ensuring compliance with the provincial requirements, and potentially looking after conservation-
related tasks: as Bill 23 comes into effect this year, the role of local conservation authorities will be limited. “If we don’t pick it up,” she said, “no one will pick it up.”

O’Connor introduced a motion to defer the hiring of the two lowest-ranked positions on the town’s list: a parks and recreation programming specialist and a digital records coordinator. That motion was defeated in a 5-4 split vote.

“I was in the arena a couple of weeks ago and it was a conversation I had with many residents, that they felt there could be further support in the parks and rec world for them, and I agree with that,” Zalepa said. “They feel our staff are working very hard in the facilities … they feel they can’t get the support they’re looking for.”

Following this defeat, O’Connor commented that she “can’t believe where the priorities are” of the municipality with the decision to fund parks and recreation programming over a climate change coordinator, who would have addressed “real environmental risk.” Zalepa called this comment “out of line.”

“That’s not appropriate,” he responded. “There’s no more discussion on it.”

This was council’s third review of the 2023 operating budget, and will be followed by a fourth discussion this Thursday, March 23, the date on which the committee originally planned to approve the final budget for this year, both capital and operating. It has been pushed to March 28, or possibly later.