 By Pepper Parr
March 5th, 2021
BURLINGTON, ON
It started out with;
Direct the Chief Financial Officer to implement a 2021 COVID-19 property tax deferral pre-authorized payment plan (by application) and report on the status as part of the ongoing monthly financial COVID-19 updates
Council approved property tax relief measures in 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The assistance included extended property tax due dates, waived penalty and interest on outstanding property tax from April to August 31 and a pre-authorized payment plan to pay remaining 2020 taxes between the months of August and December 2020.
Most taxpayers continued to pay on time, while some had difficulties.
Provincial and Federal governments continue to provide residents and businesses financial assistance programs relating to COVID-19.
The Ontario government declared a Provincial COVID-19 state of emergency January 12, 2021 effective January 14, 2021, ending on February 14, 2021. The current Provincial and Public Health measures may produce a continued financial hardship for some Burlington residents and business in 2021.
Here is what Council decided to do.
 They created an application-based deferral program consisting of pre-authorized monthly withdrawals to defer payment from our regularly scheduled due dates. It would apply to all property classes (residential and non-residential) to be fair and equitable.
Balance can include any unpaid installments from March 1, 2020 and all of 2021 taxes
Taxes will be paid in full by December 1, 2021
Penalty/interest will be suspended for the duration of the deferral
Withdrawal start date chosen by the property owner.
Financial impact to the city is dependent on the number of applications and total tax payments deferred. It amounts to a shift in cash flow of property tax revenues to later in the year. The city will not collect penalty/interest revenue for months that taxes are deferred.
Taxes levied on behalf of the Region and school boards would still be paid on the normal schedule.
Eligibility criteria
 Property taxes must be current prior to the pandemic (March 1, 2020)2
Property owners would need to attest that they are experiencing financial hardship directly related to COVID-19
The expectation is that property owners with tenants should be passing on the deferral arrangement.
 By Pepper Parr
March 4th, 2021
BURLINGTON, ON
OPINION
Once the decision is made to settle on just what the tax rate for a year is going to be the politicians get to justify it.
Each brings their own perspective and point of view to the decision that has been made and want to ensure that their constituents are aware of the work they did and why they deserve their vote at the next election.
Burlington has a seven member Council.
In this article I want to focus on the role Councillors Stolte, Nisan and Mayor Meed Ward played in producing the tax rate.
The 4.14% increase is the city’s portion of the taxes collected and used to pay the bills and ensure that there are reserves in place to protect when there is a financial failure. That number is what matters to the people who pay the taxes.
The tax payment you send the city happens to include the tax rate set by the Region for their expenses and the tax rate the Boards of education set to keep the schools operating. The city collects all the money and sends the Regional levy to the Region and the school board levies to the school boards.
 Ward 3 Councillor Rory Nisan – served as Chair of the Committee that debated the city budget The debating and bickering that takes place to arrive at a tax rate takes place at a Standing Committee. This year that committee was chaired by ward 3 Councillor Rory Nisan. Mr. Nisan did not cover himself with glory while doing the task; he was difficult, less than fair to some of the Council members and tended to be authoritarian while doing the work.
He was acrimonious, discourteous and rude at times when the job of chair calls for a deft, mature understanding of the wishes of each Council member, drawing them out and letting a consensus come out of it all.
On far too many occasions it was clear that Nisan did not understand the numbers – he would say “that is nice to know” when it was actually essential that the Chair have a solid grip on what each number meant.
 Chief Financial Officer Joan Ford; always ready willing and able to mentor members of Council Burlington has a Chief Financial Officer, Joan Ford, who bends over backwards to explain what can at times be arcane and difficult to understand. She is always ready, willing and able to mentor the Chair – Nisan didn’t appreciate or take advantage of what was available to him.
Mr. Nisan has shown a preference for aligning himself with the Mayor and championing her wishes and aspirations rather than creating a path of his own. It is hard to be certain just what Rory Nisan does stand for.
Like every other member of Council he will have to stand for re-election in 2022. He doesn’t have a lot of time to let his constituents know and see who he really is and what he wants to get done. Other than wanting to be the Mayor’s choice for Deputy Mayor – it is hard to point to something that has made a difference. There was a splash pad set up in his ward – but that idea was put in motion by his predecessor.
The Mayor said at the beginning of the budget proceedings that the 4.99% increase budget Staff brought in was not going to fly – her target was 3.99% and she fought hard to get that number.
She didn’t have the support of enough of her council members to make it happen – some found the drive for that 3.99% was misplaced and that the purpose of the budget was to serve the needs of the citizens and not the aspirations of a politician.
Meed Ward, to her credit, realized the 3.99% was not going to happen. “The goal is not going to be met,” she said; “let it go” and she did, adding that there is no shame in aiming high.
The Mayor said on numerous occasions that her objective was to “leave more money in the pockets of the tax payers”. The words had a populist tinge.
 Took positions that challenged what others were advocating; kept pushing for more transparency. Councillor Stolte was the star of the budget debates – she consistently, but respectfully, challenged the views of her colleagues and questioned the Clerk on several of the decisions he made.
Saying:
“My comments in regard to whether or not to endorse the 2021 Operating Budget will be highlighted in two components today.
“In regard to the tax rate that we have landed on, I believe it is the result of a great deal of hard work by our Finance Department and this Council, and a great deal of effort to balance the needs of the community with solid financial stewardship and protection of City assets.
“There is still a great deal of work to be done within the City of Burlington to reduce unnecessary bureaucracy and the financial inefficiencies that are inherent in an overly bureaucratic organization, but we have begun to see some positive changes in this regard and I look forward to the citizens of Burlington reaping the financial savings from these improvements in the future.
“The second component of my comments is in regard to the PROCESS involved when staff and Council are tasked to determine the priorities, sacrifices and compromises necessary to manage a city budget.
“It was mentioned earlier today that I had brought forward a Staff direction in March of 2020 that was unanimously supported by Council. It stated to:
“Direct the Chief Financial Officer to plan a Council Workshop in June of 2020 with the subject matter of “Vision to Focus – Budget 2021”. The purpose being to allow staff and Council the opportunity to collaborate on high level priorities, values and vision leading into the 2021 budget process in an effort to concentrate the focus and priorities of Council.”
“Comments may be made that this plan was impacted due to COVID-19 but in hindsight, the 2021 budget still needed to be dealt with and the need to collaborate with Council on focus and priorities, at the start of that process, still should have happened.
“I am disappointed that another Budget cycle was completed without the benefit of a more collaborative Staff/Council process at the outset and I appeal to our City Manager to commit to ensuring that this process improvement is implemented for the next Budget cycle for 2022.
“Curiously, as we endeavored to land this Budget, further process and best practice challenges came to light.
“When we began this term of Council in early 2019 we were oriented to understand that we would receive recommendations from staff in regard to agenda items that needed to be discussed in private, behind closed doors.
“Over the last two years the regular practice has been for Council to receive advice that we “need” to move into Closed Session and this recommendation is always accepted by Council without debate, as merely a point of procedure.
“During the 2021 Operating Budget process I presented an amendment which became the topic of much debate with the City Clerk and City Manager’s Office.
“It was recommended by staff that this amendment be discussed in private, behind closed doors.
“I challenged this recommendation and it quickly came to light that this was a very rare occurrence for a Closed Meeting recommendation to be questioned by Council and I was informed that it was inappropriate for a Councillor to question a staff recommendation of this nature.
“This is not how the municipal democratic process works … Staff’s role is to make their best professional recommendation and our role on Council is to assess this recommendation and concur or contest based on whether or not we believe the recommendation represents the best interests of the residents of Burlington.
“Ultimately, the decision on the Budget item was in the hands of Council, where it should be…but the process involved in this discussion was what was of concern.”
Stolte’s comments have the potential to bring about a change in the way council meetings are managed. The doors need to be open as much as possible.
This Council worked very hard to produce a budget that met the needs of the tax payers and at the same time underlined the goals they had when they sought election to city Council.
There are lessons in the budget experience for every member of Council; hopefully they will take the time to reflect on what took place and learn from both the mistakes and the successes.
This council was supported by a well-tuned finance department who met every challenge put to them and then some.
Salt with Pepper is the musings, reflections and opinions of the publisher of the Burlington Gazette, an online newspaper that was formed in 2010 and is a member of the National Newsmedia Council.
 By Pepper Parr
March 3rd 2021
BURLINGTON, ON
It is now official.
Council voted for a tax levy of $182,276,388 which will mean a 4.14% increase in the 2020 city portion of the tax bill.
 Ward 6 Councillor Angelo Bentivegna votes against the budget.
That budget will mean an additional $18.99 per 100,000 of assessment value/
It was a tough budget; the toughest this council has had to deal with.
The COVID issues muddied up almost everything.
Mayor Mead Ward was gracious in her comments about the role each member of Council played in landing the budget.
By Pepper Parr
February 25th, 2021
BURLINGTON, ON
They wrapped it up.
We now know what the tax levy is going to be for the fiscal year: they are going to tax the public a total of $182,276,388.
We don’t know yet what that will translate into in terms of a percentage and what it will mean in terms of how much taxation for every $100,000 of property assessment.
Those details were not presented to the public during the meeting. It does not appear that the Mayor is going to be able to deliver on the promise of a tax increase over last year of not more than 3.99%
It looks like it will come in at about 4.05%
Before the lunch break the percentage over last year was 4.14%. Members of Council decided they would dive back into the budget and see if they could change their minds on some of the decisions they had made.
That’s when things got sticky. The rules of the game on a reconsideration of a vote call for a person who voted for the original motion to bring a motion that needs a 2/3rds majority to pass.
 Ward 3 Councillor Rory Nisan chaired the committee that handled the budget review. He is said to have his eyes on the Office of the Mayor once Meed Ward has moved on to greener pastures. Chair of the meeting, Rory Nisan, did everything he could to get around that problem.
They went for lunch before they had a solution.
There is a contingency Reserve fund that had $1.8 million put into it – which was an increase over last year. Mayor Meed Ward wanted to decrease the increase by about 10% which would have allowed them to get to her much desired 3.99% tax increase.
Her colleagues were having none of it and went after the Mayor for raiding the Reserve Funds piggy bank. The account had something in the order of $9 million it.
 Ward 1 Councillor Kelvin Galbraith listening to what his constituents have to say. Councillor Galbraith said he got far too many negative comments from his ward about the way reserve funds were being raised. He wasn’t on for more of that.
Councillor Bentivegna said raiding reserves was not what he wanted to do. If the increase was higher than the 3.99% – so be it.
City Manager Tim Commisso said that while there was some risk chipping away on what was going to be salted away the one before Council didn’t bother him that much.
Something had changed. Members of Council appeared to have stopped buying into the Mayor’s 3.99%. It took a bit for that change to sink in and while the Mayor never did say she would go with the will of her colleagues – it appears that she is going to have to find words to get her out of this one.
 This is city council, Lisa Kearns is missing. City Manager, top left and Committee Clerk bottom right. Later this week there will be a carefully worded media release giving this budget that rosy red glow that the apple polishers can do to fruit that may have gone past its best before date.
It all goes to Council on March 3rd. Several Council members chose to withhold their comments on the budget until it gets to Council on the third.
This may not be over yet.
By Pepper Parr
February 25th, 2021
BURLINGTON, ON
Updated on February 25th: 11:07 am
A day off doesn’t seem to have changed a thing.
No sooner had Rory Nisan, Chair of the Corporate Services, Strategy, Risk and Accountability (CSSRA) committee, gotten through the Declarations of a Pecuniary Interest (there were none) and noting that there was nothing on the consent agenda – the meeting slid over to John Ford who said Tuesday had been a long day and then passed things along to Laurie Jivan who said that the tax rate for the city spending would amount to 4.18 % (that would be the increase over the 2020 budget) and that if they wanted to get it to 3.99% they would have to find $343,000 in savings.
The meeting returned to Nisan who said the Committee was going to look at items #4 and #24 on the Budget Action Requests (BAR) forms and in order to do that the Committee would have to go into CLOSED session.
Nisan asked Galbraith to so move, Galbraith did, everyone voted yes let’s do that and the screen went to the CLOSED image.
Not one member of Council asked for detail on why they were going into a CLOSED session.
 Those who watch Council meeting webcasts would have seen this image often – too often? Item #4 on the BAR form was a provision to reduce the amount that was to go into the Contingency Reserve. Staff was recommending anything between $100,000 and $338,445. The Mayor wanted that amount to be $400,000 while Councillors Bentivegna, Kearns, Galbraith, Nisan, and Sharman wanted the amount to be $100,000
Item 24 on the Bar forms was to remove $154,470 from the spending – remove 1 legal staff who worked on Community Planning matter. Bentivegna, Galbraith and Sharman proposed this.
A former councillor at a Halton municipality pointed out to us in an email that:
A meeting or part of a meeting may be closed to the public if the subject matter being considered is:
• the security of the property of the municipality or local board
• personal matters about an identifiable individual, including municipal or local board employees
• a proposed or pending acquisition or disposition of land by the municipality or local board
• labour relations or employee negotiations
• litigation or potential litigation, including matters before administrative tribunals, affecting the municipality or local board
• advice that is subject to solicitor-client privilege, including communications necessary for that purpose
• a matter in respect of which a council, board, committee or other body may hold a closed meeting under another Act
• information explicitly supplied in confidence to the municipality or local board by Canada, a province or territory or a Crown agency of any of them
• a trade secret or scientific, technical, commercial, financial or labour relations information, supplied in confidence to the municipality or local board, which, if disclosed, could reasonably be expected to prejudice significantly the competitive position or interfere significantly with the contractual or other negotiations of a person, group of persons, or organization
• a trade secret or scientific, technical, commercial or financial information that belongs to the municipality or local board and has monetary value or potential monetary value
• a position, plan, procedure, criteria or instruction to be applied to any negotiations carried on or to be carried on by or on behalf of the municipality or local board.
In a memo to Council the Finance department provided the following comment on the Provision to Contingency Reserve – As stated in the budget reduction list provided to you on February 1st, the list included a $100,000 reduction to the provision that would flatline the amount to the 2020 budget. The note included that the uncommitted balance was approximately $9.5 million. A question was asked as to whether the amount of the provision could be reduced further given this balance. Legal staff are reviewing outstanding and potential future litigation matters. At this time, a range could be considered for Committee’s discussion. This range would be from $100,000 (results in a budget provision of $2,038,445) to $338,445 (results in a budget provision of $1,800,000).
Would item #4 and # 24 meet these conditions? At some point the provincial Ombudsman will be asked to investigate and determine if these two, along with the other multiple occasion Council went into CLOSED on this budget – which at this moment has yet to be agreed upon before it goes to Council on March 3rd – and when you will know how much of your money is going to slide out of your pocket.
By Pepper Parr
February 24th, 2021
BURLINGTON, ON
Just what was the hullabaloo all about? It was about a possible $1,466,000 savings that had something to do with city hall staff remuneration.
 Ward 4 Councillor Shawna Stolte had some ideas on where savings could be found – wasn’t allowed to talk about them. They had to do with how much the city pays its staff. Details on just what was behind that idea were not made public because Ward 4 Councillor Shawna Stolte was not given the opportunity to talk about her proposal in a public session.
We are never really going to know the whole story but based on what is available we can say this: no one in the city knows the Municipal Act better than Clerk Kevin Arjoon who managed to find several sections on the Closed meeting provisions to keep Ward 4 Councillor Shawna Stolte from speaking publicly about her idea for reducing the size of the tax bite for the current year.
Stolte had an item on the BAR forms that didn’t have an amount next to it. It did have a note that it was to be discussed in a CLOSED session.
The items Stolte had in mind were broken out by Staff who created a list of four items.
Council then went into a CLOSED session to debate. We do not know what Stolte said, if anything, in the CLOSED session of a Standing Committee that lasted 12 hours.
There is a report that Stolte did not speak to her own motion while Council was in CLOSED.
Item 1 Defeated.
Item 2 – withdrawn
They then recessed until 6:30.
After the recess they then went back into Closed session to debate the other two items.
Based on what we have been able to piece together, we know that the proposal had to do with staffing.
 City manager Tim Commisso appears to have out the interest of his staff ahead of the taxpayers. The city manager was adamant in wanting to get the discussion off the public table and have the views of Council members, particularly Stolte, away from the public.
More to follow on this one. There are very serious grounds for the way large parts of the meeting were held, including Chair of the meeting, Rory Nisan, who called the vote on a Stolte motion but did not allow her to speak until after the vote – and then cautioned her on several occasions about what she was going to say.
More details on what happened will be the focus of a follow-up story.
The big issue for the Mayor at this point is where she is going to find the $343,735.00 to get the tax increase down to 3.99%. As it is now it stands at 4.18%
More on that as well.
By Pepper Parr
February 23rd, 2021
BURLINGTON, ON
It was late; 9:45 pm. They had been going at it since 9:30 in the morning.
City Council was doing their best to get a budget increase of 3.99% that they could take to council on March 3rd.
They didn’t make it in Tuesday.
The budget number when the adjourned was at 4.18% – they needed to find $343,735 in savings to get to the 3.99%.
The schedule called for a follow up meeting on Thursday – maybe they will find the savings then.
At times it was a bit of a gong show. At one point they were arguing over how they would vote against something that had no amount attached to it.
On another occasion the Chair, Rory Nisan, went to call the vote on an item and had to be informed that it had been withdrawn. Nisan had stepped away from his seat.
 Everyone needs a break – the Gazette will get up bright and early on Wednesday and report on what they did get done.
We will tell you all about the budget item that had to be discussed in a CLOSED session.
We also learned that the city does not have an employee suggestion box. Does that say something?
By Pepper Parr
February 19th, 2021
BURLINGTON, ON
Have you ever seen something like this before?
BAR forms (Budget Action Requests) are documents Councillors use to bring forward changes they would like to see made in the budget Staff have put forward.
The Gazette has learned that the Clerk has informed a member of Council that the item that was put forward must be treated as confidential.
Confidential matters are determined and governed by the Municipal Act and usually relate to matters that involve a named individual or a property matter.
There is much more to this story.
By Pepper Parr
February 18th, 2021
BURLINGTON, ON
They are referred to as BAR (Budget Action Request), forms that each Council member can submit asking for an increase or a decrease to the budget brought forward by Staff.
At this point – before there is a serious debate on the budget, the increase is 4.99% over what the city taxes were last year. Mayor Meed Ward told Staff that she wanted them to come back with a budget that had a 3.99% increase over last year – and to include some ideas on how to get to that point.
There was something quite a bit different this year many of the 29 items were submitted by all the members of Council. In previous councils a member would push for an item they wanted to deliver to their ward – re-election for this crowd is just 20 months away, not a lot of time in the world of politics.
The following list of items, requested by Councillors on the BAR forms.
Are the changes asked for enough to bring the tax increase down to that 3.99% the Mayor wanted – maybe even lower?
Each of these will be debated, with Staff on hand to advise. Note that for many of the items Staff is in agreement with what a majority of the Council members want to do.
Of note is this. Ward 4 Councilor Shawna Stolte did not join her colleagues on the BAR items they put forward but did put forward three of her own – all were suggesting decreases in salary for the Members of Council. She wanted members of Council to take a pass on the annual increase they get each year and to take a 10% cut of the salary they currently get for 9 months.
The sum total for the two BAR amounts to $629,000.
There are two situations where Council asked that funds be added to the budget. Stolte wanted $110,000 added to the Capital Works budget while Kearns, Nisan and Meed Ward wanted $15,000 added to the Heritage Property Tax rebate program.
Look for the Mayor wanting to take a victory lap when the budget is approved in March.
By Pepper Parr
February 12th, 2021
BURLINGTON, ON
The Communications people at City Hall provide a service that amounts to a listing of events taking place during the week ahead. It is published every Thursday and usually consists of meeting notices. Members of Council sometimes place an event they are holding on the list.
The Gazette scans the list – there is a lot of stuff going on – and noticed that the list released yesterday had three notices for basically the same thing but at different times.
The meetings were intended for the residents of ward 6.
 Meeting number 1` – about the budget  Meeting number 2 – about the budget  Meeting number 3 – about the budget
 Ward 6 Councillor Angelo Bentivegna We thought this was a clerical error and brought it to the attention of Kwab Ako-Adjei, Director, Corporate Communications & Engagement who got back to us and confirmed that the Councillor’s office has scheduled three Zoom meetings to talk about the budget.
The events run for between an hour and an hour and a half. It is a big budget with some critical issues. The Mayor wants to keep the tax increase to less than 4%.
Angelo Bentivegna is a Councillor who watches the pennies and has grown to the point where he can disagree with the Mayor
The residents of ward 6, and any one else who wants to listen will get a chance to see how well their Councillor understands the budget he is going to vote on.
 By Pepper Parr
January 29th, 2021
BURLINGTON, ON
 Oakville North-Burlington MP Pam Damoff in full election mode Pam Damoff, the MP for Oakville North Burlington will be holding an on-line Town Hall on the federal budget.
The event is part of the federal government’s pre-budget consultations and will take place on Thursday, February 11, 2021, from 6:00pm – 7:00pm.
All residents of Oakville North-Burlington are welcome to attend. To register for the virtual Town Hall and for additional details about the discussion please click here.
At this point in time the federal government is throwing billions into the economy to keep things as stable as possible while everyone works at beating the COVID19 virus which keeps sprouting variants which makes the job very difficult.
Damoff explains that “when COVID-19 is under control, our government has a plan to make smart, targeted investments to jump start our economic recovery, restore growth, create jobs, build a greener, more competitive, inclusive and resilient economy and repair the damage done by the pandemic.”
Over the coming weeks, the government will host virtual round tables with diverse groups of people from a range of regions, sectors and industries, including those hardest hit by the pandemic, to allow our government to hear the best ideas from Canadians and experts across the country about how Budget 2021 can best support Canadians through the pandemic and help us build back better. The round tables are an opportunity to discuss the very real challenges Canadians are facing and listen to the ways that the government can ensure a robust recovery that leaves no one behind.
Participants will be able to share their ideas and priorities about how the government can best invest to create jobs, strengthen the middle class, and build a greener, more competitive, more inclusive, more innovative, and more resilient economy.
Pam Damoff: “After the virtual Community Town Hall, my office will compile a report detailing the suggestions from Oakville North-Burlington residents to submit to the office of Federal Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister the Hon. Chrystia Freeland. The number of participants is capped at 100 and priority registration will be given to residents of Oakville North-Burlington.
“All Canadians are invited to share their ideas through an online questionnaire at LetsTalkBudget2021.ca, which will be available until February 19, 2021.
“In last year’s 2020 Fall Economic Statement, our government committed major federal transfers to the Provinces. Below, I have outlined the federal transfers to Ontario for reference.
“In Ontario:
• $16.2 billion through the Canada Health Transfer, an increase of $616 million from the previous year; and
• $5.8 billion through the Canada Social Transfer, an increase of $182 million from the previous year.
• $5.1 billion for Ontario through the Safe Restart Agreement:
o $1.2 billion support with the costs of increasing testing capacity, perform contact tracing, and share public health data that will help fight the pandemic;
o $466.0 million to support health care system capacity to respond to surges in COVID-19 cases and to support and protect people experiencing challenges related to mental health, substance use, or homelessness;
o $287.4 million to address immediate needs and gaps in supportive care and provide health and social supports for other vulnerable groups;
o $776.6 million to support municipalities with COVID-19 operating costs
o $1 billion to ensure critical transit services are maintained;
o $1.2 billion to ensure health and non-health workers have access to the personal protective equipment that they need; and
o $234.6 million to address the reduced availability of childcare spaces and the unique needs stemming from the pandemic.
• Up to $763.3 million available through the Safe Return to Class Fund
• $1.1 billion through the Essential Workers Support Fund
Pillars of Canada’s COVID-19 Economic Response Plan by the Numbers in Ontario:
• Canada Emergency Business Account: as of January 21, 323,617 loans provided to businesses, worth a total of $16.35 billion.
• Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy: as of January 10, 791,810 applications, for a total of over $23.32 billion in subsidies paid out, helping protect 1.72 million jobs.
• Canada Emergency Response Benefit: as of October 4, over 3.5 million Ontarians supported. In a population of 14.7 million, this is nearly 1 out of every 4 people.
• Canada Recovery Benefit: as of January 10, $3.3 billion provided to 682,080 Ontarians.
• Canada Recovery Sickness Benefit: as of January 10, $94 million provided to 110,220 Ontarians.
• Canada Recovery Caregiving Benefit: as of January 10, $375.2 million provided to 106,690 Ontarians.
By Staff
January 27th, 2021
BURLINGTON, ON
During February City Councillors will be debating the Operations budget which threatens to come in at more than 4% higher than last year.
Councillors are now going through the 436 page document and preparing BAR forms (Budget Action Request) that set out what changes different members of Council want made.
This is the place where pet projects get advanced. If a council member can drum up enough support and get 4 of the seven votes the project becomes part of the budget.
What will get a little tricky is the desire to keep the tax increase as low as possible and at the same time deliver something that matters to the people who voted for you at the same time.
These will get debated during the month.
The plan is to have an agreed upon budget before city council to be approved on March 3rd.
This year, the City is piloting an educational budget simulation tool, Balancing Act, to educate the public on the City’s budget and highlight the challenge of maintaining and improving services to the public, with limited sources of revenue. Using this tool, the public can simulate where they would recommend City Service budgets be amended to either increase or reduce overall spending and revenues.
The “simulation” exercise lets people decide what should be kept in the budget and what could be left for another time. This is an exercise for people to see what the impact of their choices would be – it won’t be taken by city hall as your advice to them.
It’s a little on the complex side but it is worth the effort.
The approach the city takes to the creation of the budget is to present it in what they call a Services Delivery approach. All the expenses are pulled together into one of seven categories.
You will see a list of where the city spends the tax money and other sources. There are seven categories.
 The Service Delivery categories put the spending into groups that make it easier to see where the tax dollars are going.  See if you can come up with a different allocation of the tax money and still have a balanced budget. Have fun. There is a link to get to the simulation program.
Anyone who thinks they might have what it takes to be a member of council is well advised to try their hand at budget making.
 By Pepper Parr
January 22, 2021
BURLINGTON, ON
Council heard just what the city is up against as they prepare to craft the Operations part of the 2021 Budget. The Capital Budget was approved last week.
The struggle to come to terms with the COVID pandemic has changed almost everything we do. The city Finance department has created two budgets; one that assumes normal circumstances and another that assumes an ongoing COVID scenario.
This was not a simple task.
The steps to develop the 2021 budget were as follows:
Base Budget -The budget was first built under traditional business as usual assumptions with all City services adjusting their ongoing base budgets to reflect service efficiencies and standard inflationary pressures offset with “normal” changes to revenues based on fee changes and volumes.
COVID Budget –All City services were asked to separately identify one-time budget adjustments required as a result of COVID. These adjustments include one-time reductions in budgeted revenues and changes in expenses to recognize temporary Service redesign plans required to protect the health and well-being of residents, businesses and staff.
 These are revenues that were not going to be realized. Department heads and Finance Department had to figure out how the city could be run with all the financial shortfalls. Finally, services were asked to make a further one-time budget adjustments to expenditures reflecting continued travel restrictions and additional savings resulting from remote working such as decreases in professional development given virtual training opportunities, meeting expenses and mileage.
The net result of these one-time COVID-19 impacts have been shown separately from the ongoing base budget throughout the budget documents.
 Mitigation measures – steps that were taken to cut costs The ongoing 2021 budget results in a tax increase while the one-time 2021 COVID budget has been offset by temporary cost savings and a one-time funding plan.
The budget is again presented in a service-based format allowing Council and residents to see how our services meet the growing demands of our community.
The identification of revenues and expenditures by service ensure staff and Council is considering service adjustments when making budget decisions, as well as providing increased transparency and awareness to the public.
The policy and budget principles come out of a number of documents; the first being the 25 year Strategic Plan and the Vision to Focus (V2F) which is the four year terms of council portion of the Strategic Plan.
The Asset Management Plan and the Long Term Financial Plan guide the decision making process as each city department does its early first draft of the budget.
What is called the Base Budget is reviewed by the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and the Service Leads. The review done this year identified $2.34 million in savings.
The Corporate/Strategic Review then goes over the budget to ensure that risks have been thoroughly vetted.
Council will meet formally and virtually to debate the budget staff have prepared. There will be additional public engagement events as well.
During the briefing Finance department gave council there were some eye opening graphics. A selection is set our below.
 The city uses the word investment – it is really the tax money they are going to use. Spending is broken out into seven groups. The graphic shows how much of the money is spent and the portion that is funded by the tax payers.
 The tax payer provides the bulk of the revenue. There are other sources.
 Burlington taxes compared to other municipalities. A heck of a lot better than Markham.
 Incomes in Burlington are higher – making the tax bite a little easier to love with.
By Pepper Parr
January 20th 2021
BURLINGTON, ON
Mayor Meed Ward doesn’t like the look of 4.99% tax increase and has advised her council colleagues that she will be bringing the following Staff Direction to Council tomorrow
 Direct the Chief Financial Officer to provide a list of 2021 budget reduction items for Council’s consideration that could decrease the overall proposed tax impact (city, region, education) from 2.88% to 2.43% (representing a city tax increase of 3.99%) with the list being provided to members of Council by February 1, 2021 and included for public reporting as part of the February 23, 2021 Corporate Services, Strategy, Risk & Accountability Committee -Operating Budget Review and Approval.
Staff will have to squeeze every department in the city and maybe even look at some of the reserve funds that are a little on the fat side to get the 4.99% proposed tax increase down full percentage point.
By Pepper Parr
January 20th, 2021
BURLINGTON, ON
A picture is worth 1000 words. What is a chart worth?
The chart below is from a report Council will receive on Thursday morning. It sets out what tax increases have been over a ten year period.
 If averaged over 20 years they could have gotten the number even lower. Council will begin work on a draft budget that proposes a tax increase of 4.99% for the 2020-2021 Operations budget.
There will be a Virtual Town Hall this evening at which participants can ask questions. Unfortunately the public has, at this point very little in the way of information on which to base their questions.
The meeting this evening is putting the car before the horse.
By Pepper Parr
January 19th, 2021
BURLINGTON, ON
When the Corporate Services, Strategy, Risk and Accountability Committee was ready to adjourn last week after recommending that the Capital budget be approved, Ward 6 Councillor Angelo Bentivegna, who voted against the $80million Capital budget, said he was disappointed but that “he would get over it”.
 Lisa Kearns – before she was a member of city council. Lisa Kearns, Councillor for Ward 2 said: This was a big exercise, a challenge for all of us noting that there wasn’t a single delegation adding that it was evident the public trusted council.
Tom Muir, a frequent Gazette commenter didn’t see it quite that way and said: “I think that Lisa does not have the full sense of what she claimed about everyone being budget happy just because no one showed up.
“False logic indeed.
 Tom Muir brings decades of experience in municipal matters to his thinking. “Has she completely forgotten that COVID has changed everything, including public engagement and delegations. There’s no real life left in these things.
“You don’t get to meet with all the people, see the body language all around, group conversations before and after, feel the sense of the room and so on. Now that’s fact as we all know, but it goes to the heart of Lisa’s thoughtless (in my view) remark.
“In my experience, I have no actionable desire to delegate to these virtual meetings, and especially, at this time, about the budget. This budget document is very large and takes a very long time to read, and even longer if you want to criticize. People more or less can’t really do this, and with COVID have indicated so.
“I have done so in the past and from the reaction I got it was a waste of time.
“I still see the percent increase expressed in terms of the overall Regional and Education budget amounts. This increase and the way it is expressed is a perennial complaint from people – the answer is always: we are looking into it. Doubling the tax take for Burlington is not a concern of City.
 Tom Muir: Knows false logic when he sees it. “Also, I still see $43 million budgeted for transit for buses (16 new and 52 replacements) that for many routes nobody rides. Good to go to Hamilton and back but that’s about all. What I have been told is that they are working on it and walking, busing and biking – the integrated mobility plan – is the future.
“Has anyone up there given any thought to COVID changing all of the basis of all of the planning that is based on getting back to “normal”? I see no signs of this anywhere, including, especially, the province, who wants to double down on the past, no change.
“But of course, COVID is busting budgets all over, and we have to pay. These holes are getting deeper and deeper and will have to be paid back and this will take a long time. Like it or not, COVID, being global, will be endemic and mutating, and is not going away.
“The economy and society we had is basically not compatible and sustainable without drastic changes, but I only see these changes being forced by the virus, and not in the plans and policies that I see that only try to support what exists.
“Reopening the economy, or trying to, will be another dangerous time in the not too distant future. I have said before that we cannot have an economy that works until we eliminate this virus.
“The only real cold comfort I get from the budget future is that I trust Joan Ford. Chief Financial Officer to figure it out.”
 By Pepper Parr
January 4TH, 2021
BURLINGTON, ON
We learn next week how city council wants to handle the budget request for $13,306,000 in Capital spending.
That covers the cost of roads, buildings and the spaces used to run the city.
The budget breaks this amount into three parts.
New/Enhanced facilities – $566 million
Infrastructure renewal – $12,684,000
Growth – $56 million
In the graphic below the city’s finance department also sets out what they expect to be require in the way of Capital Spending through to 2030 INSERT GRAPHIC FROM PAGE 27
 The bottom three entries for each year set out the category of spending falls under. The Capital spending the city does has to be put in context. The forces driving the expenditures and the requirements of the Municipal Act.
The city put a 25 year Strategic Plan in place in 2015. Council working with Staff created what they call V2F – Vision to Focus which boils down to which parts of the Strategic Plan this council will focus on.
Five focus areas were created:
1: Increasing Economic prosperity
2: Improving Integrated City |Mobility
3: Supporting Sustainable Infrastructure
4: Building more citizen engagement
5: Delivering Customer Centric Services
The 2021 budget process began with a Budget Framework Report. This was presented to Council for consideration and
approval in September 2020, after which staff began the preparation of the budget.
The next step was a comprehensive review of the budget by internal staff teams. The capital budget was reviewed by
the Corporate Infrastructure Committee which is made up of the Asset Category leads and members of the Finance team.
This review ensured the proposed budget was submitted and aligned with the City’s financial policies and that capital
projects were prioritized according to the City’s Asset Management Plan and coordinated across asset categories.
Following the internal staff reviews, the budget was then forwarded to the Leadership Budget Review Team where
it was reviewed from a corporate perspective.
Then Public Engagement. There are weaknesses on both sides of the engagement issue. The city has yet to come up with a way to put the information out in a format that truly engages the public. That is not because they aren’t trying – they just haven’t come up with a way to make the review something that draws the public.
 Citizens gather for budget discussions. This meeting involved a number of city firemen who were attentively listened to by then Councillor Craven, on the right in the blue shirt. There was a time when budget public meetings drew large audiences. On the other side – few people really care – those that do argue that the decisions have already been made – the public engagement events that take place amount to the city asking questions and looking for approval.
It is interesting to note that the city has numerous Advisory Committees but does not have one related to budget matters.
The City says it is continuously looking for ways to improve and increase transparency for the public. Staff continue to use the City’s website as a communication medium through videos, webcast and online surveys.
The City will be hosting a Virtual Budget Town Hall on Jan. 20, 2021. This event will allow residents, organizations and business owners to learn more about the 2021 budget.
The “Budget Basics” video continues to be available on the website which explains how the City develops its budgets.
In addition, a revised version of Burlington Open Budget, on the City’s website, is available to the public to allow residents to view the 2021 budget data in an intuitive and illustrative form.
 Burlingtonians will show up for public meetings and take an active part in any discussion – but they have to be given background briefings and decent oportunity to study and prepare. Budgets are long, complex documents – far too much to be taken in at one gulp.
The Gazette will follow up with detail on:
Where does the money come from – yes – it all eventually comes from the pockets of the tax payers.
Where are the pinch points?
Specific examples of Capital spending.
 By Pepper Parr
December 18th, 2020
BURLINGTON, ON
In the municipal world, a deficit is not permitted.
When revenues do not cover all the expenses then treasurer people have to draw down funds from a reserve account.
Burlington, like every other municipality in the province, has dozens of reserve accounts.
The 2021 Operating budget that is being put together (it will go to Council in January) did not look all that good – a higher than the 2% tax rate the public finds they can live with looked as if it was going to rise – 4% was possible unless spending was cut drastically or if there was an infusion of cash from higher levels of government.
Burlington was advised this week that it would get more financial relief from the Province during COVID-19.
 Premier Ford meets Mayor Meed Ward – smiles all around. The province announced yesterday they are allocating an additional $695 million to provide financial relief for municipalities and help ensure they do not carry operating deficits into 2021 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Burlington is one of 48 (out of 444 municipalities) to receive the “full” phase 2 funding allocation. The City is receiving an additional 2020 operating funding of $5.4 million, plus $1.9 million to help with 2021 COVID-related operating pressures.
This funding is in addition to $2.2 million in transit-related money provided to help with local transit pressures, which was also secured through the City’s phase 2 application through the Safe Restart program.
These funds build upon the first phase of the federal-provincial Safe Restart Funding Agreement announced this summer and will help municipalities deliver critical services during COVID-19.
The federal-provincial Safe Restart Funding Agreement is a historic partnership that secured up to $4 billion in emergency funding for Ontario’s municipalities to help them on the road to a safe recovery during the pandemic.
 Tim Commisso, City Manager “… great news for our City”, said the Mayor, who added that “the Province listened to us. This additional funding will help us as we enter a difficult 2021 budget to maintain and enhance the services our residents expect, while keeping it affordable.
Tim Commisso, City Manager pointed out that “… we still have a challenging 2021 operating budget forthcoming in January, this funding is a huge relief for the city as we continue to deal with the financial impacts of this pandemic.”
 By Staff
December 13, 2020
BURLINGTON, ON
Those that got the message and were aware – came out in small groups.
 Families gathered on the streets with the older ones running alongside to keep up. The traffic on Twitter was heavy – so the word was being passed around.
Santa was in town – making visits to different parts of the city.
Kudos to the Parka and Recreation people for making this happen.
Use of face masks was spotty.
But people did have fun.
If a picture is worth a thousand words – here is several thousand.
 A little warmer and it could have been a picnic.  That child had the best view on the street.  Santa had quite a welcoming crew on this street.
 The old Ho Ho man himself  The snow man waves to Santa as he passes by.  The message that was there for everyone to read – Stay Safe – Follow the rules. Photography was done by Denis Gibbons who recently wrote a piece on how he thought the Canadian teams in the National Hockey League should be organized for the next season
Worth reading.
Gibbons on bringing the game back home.
By Pepper Parr
December 2nd, 2020
BURLINGTON, ON
The finance department is ready to take their numbers to city council and begin the process of setting the budget for 2021.
The budget consists of both an operating budget for the delivery of services to the community and a capital budget to invest in the construction and renewal of city assets and infrastructure.
An overview of the capital budget will be presented to Burlington City Council at a Corporate Services, Strategy, Risk and Accountability Committee meeting on Thursday, Dec 10 at 9:30 a.m. A livestream of the virtual meeting is available on the City’s website, along with a copy of the report being presented.
Proposed 2021 capital budget
The proposed 2021 capital budget is approximately $72.1 million, with a ten-year program of $786.4 million. From the 10-year capital program:
• 70% is focused on infrastructure renewal projects, e.g. repair, refurbishment or replacement of an existing asset to extend its useful life, in accordance with the city’s asset management plan
• 16% is for growth projects, e.g. capital to service growth in the city
• 14% is for new or enhanced projects, e.g. increases to current service levels that are not the result of growth.
A copy of the proposed 2021 capital budget will be available at burlington.ca/budget.
 Impacts of COVID-19 pandemic on 2021 budget process
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic is placing considerable pressure on the city’s financial position with a forecast of over $18 million in revenue losses by the end of 2020. While a large portion of these losses are being mitigated with an on-going expenditure restraint program and support from senior levels of government, the City is projecting an unfavourable variance at year end of over $2.7 million. It is anticipated these challenges will continue to impact city finances until such time as a vaccine is developed and provincial restrictions are fully lifted.
To partially mitigate the 2021 impact of COVID-19 on the city’s operating budget, the planned increase to the city’s dedicated infrastructure renewal levy in 2021 (1.25%) has been temporarily redirected to the operating budget for one year. This will provide $2.18 million of one-time funding to offset the anticipated one-time COVID-19 impacts in 2021, reducing the amount of 2021 capital funding.
City seeking community input
Through the budget process, choices are made to ensure the appropriate balance between affordability, service levels and financial sustainability is maintained. In a challenging budget year where the city has fewer options for how to spend its money, community feedback about which services are a priority for residents is more important than ever.
To gather feedback from residents, the City will be hosting an online survey at getinvolvedburlington.ca, open from Dec. 2 to Jan. 8, 2021.
Residents can also share their ideas and thoughts at a virtual budget town hall on Wednesday, Jan. 20, from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Hosted by Mayor Marianne Meed Ward, the live event will provide residents with an opportunity to learn more and ask questions about the proposed 2021 budget. More details about the town hall, including a link to join the meeting will be available on getinvolvedburlington.ca in the coming days.
As residents continue to rediscover many of their favourite spaces and activities in the city, City services may look different as we work to stop the spread of COVID-19.
The City’s commitment to providing the community with essential services remains a priority. Sign up to learn more about Burlington at Burlington.ca/Enews and download the free City of Burlington
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