 By Pepper Parr
August 14th, 2020
BURLINGTON, ON
So how deep is the financial hole going to be?
The city treasurer put some numbers on the table – they don’t look all that good.
Earlier in the week the City got a big chunk of money from the federal and provincial governments. More than $4 million was to cover some of the costs of running the City.
Revenue has been low – mostly from the Parks and Recreation services the City provides.
Here is what Joan Ford, City Treasurer gave Council on Thursday.
The city has been very generous on the time people have to pay their taxes. There have been deferrals on due dates – which can get a little confusing. The Table below shows what the shortfall is on the April tax levy.
There is a total of $7, 708,000 + outstanding from the April tax levy. A number of people and organizations enrolled in the Tax deferral the city put in place. That amount comes in at $2,260,000 +
Ford set out for Council what all this was doing to cash flow. The table below shows the Cash flow projections that were in place for the 2018/2019 fiscal year and what Ford and her staff think the projection will be for 2020.
Using the data they have the Finance people set out the estimated revenue loss from tax supported and non-tax supported programs – then added to that what they expect to have to spend on COVID-19 matter. Ford told Council that to date the City has spent about $400,000 on Covid-19 tasks.
Seven million was saved on what they called “expenditure restraint”. Unless it was absolutely necessary – funds were not spent even though they were in the budget.
That still leaves a shortfall of $7,743,834.
Standing back from the detail and looking at the bigger picture – where is the pain? Parks and Recreation. Transit, the orange marker wasn’t as deep but substantial nevertheless The service was offered free of charge. That changes in September but at this point the transit people have no idea what revenue might look like.
The Parks and Recreation revenue losses were a surprise.
The city let all the part time people go shortly after the Emergency legislation was passed. Discretionary spending was cut and almost $3.2 million was saved in other “Business as Usual” expenses.
There is only so much that can be squeezed out of a budget. Also there are found expenses that occur the moment you turn the lights on.
There is a very bright and tough minded crew of people who look at the services that are provided and ask: How can we redesign this service so that the public gets what they expect and we can be more efficient.
The most recent re-design resulted in an additional $1.7 (almost $1.8) million being added. Some savings with leaf collection – always a contentious issue in Burlington – were made.
That now has the shortfall at $9,541 + million.
Getting a handle on the damage COVID-19 is doing to the City’s finances in a situation that is both dynamic and fluid leaves the city with what cannot be described as a pretty picture.
The finance people know that things will not remain the same – normal is no longer a state of affairs that can be seen as certain.
The Finance department did a sensitivity analysis. Starting with what they see happening now that we are into Stage 3 they looked forward and did a calculation based on an additional 5% revenue loss and then a 10% revenue loss.
Those numbers are set out below.
Members of City Council need now to take those projections to bed with them and think long and hard: Are they ready to tell the public that there is going to be a $13 million revenue loss. If they have to make that kind of a statement they had better have some solutions and not just assume that a tax hike will cover that off.
City Council might be approaching that point of desperation that many in the commercial, especially the hospitality sector, are experiencing. City’s cannot go bankrupt nor can they run a deficit. Should they reach that point the province sends in regulators who take over. That’s when a staff reduction is given a hard close look.
 By Staff
August 13th, 2020
BURLINGTON, ON
City Council does have to come up with a budget before the end of the year.
The Province of Ontario announced as part of the federal-provincial Safe Restart Agreement that the City of Burlington will receive $4,470,700 to support municipal operating pressures for Phase 1 and Burlington Transit will receive $1,571,213 to support municipal transit systems for Phase 1.
 Joan Ford, the city’s Director of Finance doesn’t have to worry as much about where the money to pay the bills is going to come from. Senior City staff will be presenting the monthly COVID-19 verbal update to the Corporate Services, Strategy, Risk and Accountability Committee Meeting on Thursday.
At the last monthly update to Burlington City Council on July 9, the City was estimating revenue losses of $18 million. The City was able to mitigate $9.9 million for a projected year end shortfall of $8.1 million before needing to draw from reserve funds.
If memory serves us correctly the shortfall was in the $4 million range
Municipalities will be provided with up to $1.6 billion as part of the first round of emergency funding under the Safe Restart Agreement.
This funding will help municipalities like Burlington protect the health and well-being of residents, while continuing to deliver critical public services to our community and assist with economic recovery.
Through the Safe Restart Agreement with the federal government, $695 million will help municipalities address operating pressures related to the COVID-19 pandemic through the first round of emergency funding, and over $660 million will support transit systems. The province is also providing an additional $212 million through the Social Services Relief Fund to help vulnerable people find shelter.
 There will be money for the transit service – will there be passengers willing to ride the buses – especially if they are crowded. In addition to the support for municipalities, the government is providing over $660 million in the first phase of transit funding to the 110 municipalities with transit systems. The funding can be used to provide immediate relief from transit pressures, such as lower ridership, as well as for new costs due to COVID-19, such as enhanced cleaning and masks for staff.
In the second phase, additional allocations will be provided based on expenses incurred to ensure the funding meets the needs of municipalities. As part of the Safe Restart Agreement with the federal government, up to $2 billion is being provided to support public transit in Ontario.
Mayor Marianne Meed Ward said: “This is exactly the support we need from our upper levels of government to continue to provide the services our residents need, in the midst of COVID-19. Today’s funding announcement for Burlington will allow us to continue to serve our community without service cuts, unacceptable tax increases or depleting reserves.
 By Staff
July 23rd, 2020
BURLINGTON, ON
Earlier this month the Regional government announced that it was going to aim for a budget increase for the 2020-2021 budget of not more than 2%
The 2021 Budget Directions Report provides guidelines to staff to maintain existing service levels for Regional programs with identified pressures, including COVID-19.
 Regional Chair Gary Carr at an event in Burlington Regional Chair Gary Carr said: “The 2021 Budget Directions Report is an important step in our budget development process as it lays the foundation for our next Budget and Business Plan. Throughout COVID-19, there has been a number of uncertainties, but this Report provides guidelines that help us maintain our strong financial position, keep property taxes low and continue to support residents and businesses in our community as we recover from the pandemic.”
This Report guides the Region’s investments in 2021 to ensure resident access to essential services and supports critical program enhancements and financing plans to address community growth. It also ensures that Halton’s upcoming Budget will align with strategic themes, objectives and outcomes outlined in the 2019–2022 Strategic Business Plan.
Financial pressures related to the COVID-19 pandemic are also identified in the Report. Regional staff continue to closely monitor these pressures in coordination with the Region’s projected recovery plan, to identify any anticipated impacts that may extend to 2021. This will continue the Region’s history of addressing program pressures, reallocating resources to priority areas and maintaining service levels while maintaining tax rate increases at or below the rate of inflation.
Some of Halton’s budget priorities for 2021 include:
Public Health: maintaining service levels while continuing to respond to COVID-19.
Paramedic Services: addressing increased costs associated with inflation, rising call volumes, maintaining response times, population and other growth pressures.
Children’s Services: maintaining service levels following reductions in Provincial funding and uncertainty around funding levels for 2021.
Indigenous initiative, inclusion and diversity: creating an initiative with an Indigenous consultant that will support a comprehensive response to the Federal Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s 94 Calls to Action and the report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.
Climate change emergency: continuing to make corporate operations as carbon neutral as possible, using land use and transportation planning to design climate friendly communities, designing and building climate resilient infrastructure, and planning to respond to weather related events and other emergencies.
Community safety and well-being: continuing to deliver the objectives of the Community Safety and Well-Being Plan (CSWB) in collaboration with community partners on a wide range of issues to support residents who are vulnerable to negative social, economic or health outcomes.
 Skyway Waste Water Treatment plant in the Beachway. Waste Management: continued planning and implementation for the short-term options recommended in the Solid Waste Management Strategy, and planning for the transition of the Blue Box program to full Producer responsibility with integration into the medium and long-term strategy options of the recommended final Solid Waste Management Strategy.
Transportation: investment to support increased costs associated with road maintenance, the road resurfacing program, and in the state-of-good-repair for existing roads and expansion to accommodate growth.
Growth of the water and wastewater system: support for costs associated with upgrades and treatment plant expansions, further improvements to levels of treatment and new and expanded pumping stations.
 Burlington experienced flash floods in 2014 – managing these natural events is an expensive challenge. Basement flooding mitigation: continuation of the Region-wide Basement Flooding Mitigation Program to help prevent basement flooding caused by severe weather.
Water and Wastewater state-of-good-repair: continuing to invest in the state-of-good-repair program to maintain the condition of assets as infrastructure ages and expands due to growth.
Staff will continue to focus on core services, ongoing improvement and finding efficiencies across all program areas to achieve these targets.
The 2021 Council Budget Meeting is scheduled for December 9, 2020, and the 2021 Budget and Business Plan is scheduled to be considered for approval by Regional Council on December 16, 2020.
Two percent eh! The proof will be in the pudding
 By Pepper Parr
July 13, 2020
BURLINGTON, ON
Tax due dates are be made a little longer, there are deferrals, and there is tax money that is just not coming in
On the other side of the ledger the expenses are not as high. All the part time people were laid off, there was no transit money coming in nor was there much revenue on the Parks and Recreation side
The books were pretty messy.
Treasurer Joan Ford prepared a presentation for a Standing Committee lat week and put two critical numbers forward. $18,091,423.00 and $4,017,732.00
The eighteen million is the total revenue losses and COVID related costs.
The four million is what the Treasurer expects to see as the shortfall – money the city will not have to to pay its bills.
Somehow Mayor Marianne Meed Ward convinced herself that the city was $18 million in the hole. She called it the “delta”.
There was also an Expenditure Restraint amount of $6,572,127 and Other operational savings of $3,330,272.
When these two are added to the withdrawals from Program Specific Reserve funds the shortfall of $4,017,732 which the Finance people are confident can be made up by withdrawing from other reserve funds.
 This graph sets out where the revenue didn’t come from.  Treasurer Joan Ford did point out that treasurers are usually comfortable with total reserves of 15% – those total reserves are now at the 9% level. They are going to have to be built back up at some point.
The general message was that while things are tight – the city feels that they will come though the COVID pandemic with some change in their pockets.
Property tax collection did take a hit – some of the larger properties were either not able to pay their taxes the way they had in the past, several took advantage of the deferral program.
Many of the smaller businesses just didn’t have the cash flow. Burlington has always followed a lenient approach to the collection of taxes – they bend over backwards to help a property owner get their taxes paid. Treasurer Joan Ford told Council that in al her years wit the city they have only had to force the sale of a piece of property because the taxes were not paid.
 Data on the property tax collection level. That assumes that things do not get worse – and with the current COVID situation – they just don’t know where things will be in 60 days.
The Treasury people have worked both long and hard and very creatively to keep the financial situation quite stable.
 By Pepper Parr
July 10th, 2020
BURLINGTON, ON
 Regional Chair Gary Carr – as proud as a new father over the credit/bond rating There is one duty Regional Chair Gary Carr carries out every year – and that is announcing how good the Region’s credit rating is.
He used to brag that Halton had a better bond rating than the United States of America.
The Gazette used to find that annual bond rating level amusing – who cares?
We all care – especially at this time of huge declines in revenue and expenses that were not even thought about.
The municipalities are going to need money. The rules say that funds cannot be borrowed for operating costs. That may change – for these are changing times.
When a municipality has to borrow they send their needs to the Region – it is the Region that goes to the market with a bond offering thus the Region’s credit rating is what matters.
 The Region is the banker on the bond side for the municipalities. Halton Region’s AAA credit rating affirmed by S&P Global Ratings
Last month S&P Global Ratings affirmed its top credit rating for Halton Region. Their research summary praises the Region’s strong fiscal policies and budgetary performance while confirming its confidence in Halton’s ability to uphold this standing into the future despite impacts from COVID-19.
“Receiving this AAA Credit Rating from S&P Global Ratings confirms our strong financial position—the result of diligent planning and transparent reporting—which helps us support a high quality of life in Halton,” said Halton Regional Chair Gary Carr.
“This top credit rating will allow us to support ongoing investments in infrastructure while ensuring top value for taxpayer dollars, and we are proud to have earned this distinction for another year.”
Maintaining a top credit rating provides Halton and its Local Municipalities with continued access to the best capital financing rates available, which minimizes long-term infrastructure capital financing costs. As a result, public funds go further when invested in Regional works that help improve essential services in the community, such as road, water and wastewater projects.
S&P’s rating analysis included the following rationale in support of the AAA rating:
 Consistent growth in the community housing sector of the Region keeps bond/credit rating agencies happy. • steady population growth, high income levels, and a broad economy foster stability in the Region’s property tax base despite the negative impact from COVID-19;
• prudent financial management practices and solid economic base;
• excellent budget performance and limiting debt issuance; and
• exceptional liquidity position and satisfactory access to external liquidity for financing needs.
The Region has maintained top credit ratings from S&P Global Ratings (AAA) since 2002 and Moody’s Investors Service (Aaa) since 1989—a successful track record of more than 30 years. Earning this distinction from both agencies each year is a key objective of Halton’s annual Budget and Business Plan.
 By Pepper Parr
June 15th, 2020
BURLINGTON, ON
The retail and hospitality sectors have been bleeding badly – they needed every break they could get.
For many rent and the hydro bill were the biggest nuts they had to deal with.
Many residents were finding that they were not always able to make the rent and city taxes were something they just had to put on hold.
The city jiggled the due dates on property taxes for the resident section which was a help.
Mayor Marianne Meed Ward put forward a motion at a Standing Committee last week asking staff to set out what things would look like under different tax relief scenarios.
One was to set aside the policy of charging people interest on their outstanding taxes.
The Mayor argued that it just didn’t seem fare for those who were struggling to get by during the pandemic to have to pay interest on overdue tax payments. It was like holding people down financially and insisting on collecting interest on overdue taxes just so that the city could meet its financial commitments.
A little on the altruistic side but that’s part of where this Mayor comes from.
What happens then with the taxes owed the city by the two large shopping venue – Burlington Centre and Mapleview Mall.
The public learned last week that the two locations had not remitted taxes since mid-March but were expected to do so by the end of the month.
What if they decide it is just good business to hold on paying taxes and use the cash available to get their operations up to speed and pay whatever interest was due.
During the 2008 recession Burlington had a city Councillor who did just that – why shouldn’t the malls do the same thing.
Would the city forgive the interest for the large commercial operators or is this proposal to apply to everyone – the big corporate interests, the small business operations and residents?
Are there any unintended consequences lurking in that proposal.
Can’t see this one riding all that well on the stomach of the Director of Finance.
Finally, did the public have the right to know that the malls were late on their tax payments – or more correctly that they had taken advantage of a program the city put in place?
Related news story.
Tax collection dates shifted to ease the financial strain.
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
June 15th, 2020
BURLINGTON, ON
On June 22, City Council will consider a motion brought forward by Mayor Marianne Meed Ward at committee last week, to get options for cancelling penalty and interest on late tax payments until the end of the year or some earlier time frame.
 Mayor Marianne Meed Ward in a celebratory mood. The cost of eliminating penalty and interest is $1.65 million. Oakville has already made this decision, Halton Hills hasn’t and Milton is offering an application program to defer penalty and interest.
The City of Burlington is looking at a potential year-end negative shortfall of $3.2 million due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mayor Meed Ward thanked staff for “doing everything they have done and making the tough decisions to bring that negative shortfall down from an initial $18 million hole through a combination of cost control, reserves meant for fluctuations in revenue like we are experiencing with COVID-19, and other measures.”
Committee unanimously approved a motion to direct the City’s chief financial officer to come back in September 2020 to present at Corporate Service and Strategy Standing Committee (CSSRA) a 2021 Budget Framework Report with budget timelines as we look to approve that budget in Q1 2021.
“We know times are difficult for many residents and businesses who are having difficulty paying their taxes” said Meed Ward. “We need to explore ways to assist.”
The City has already cancelled penalty and interest on tax until June 30, and also delayed the dates of the next installments to Aug. 20 and Oct. 20. Final tax bills will be mailed out in July.
Property taxes are the most important revenue source for the city to ensure we continue to provide essential services for residents of the City of Burlington during these challenging circumstances. Taxpayers are encouraged to make payments where possible during these unique times.
Meed Ward explained that: “For this reason, myself and fellow mayors across Ontario and Canada continue to urge the federal and provincial governments to step up and provide relief funding for municipalities. I encourage you to reach out to your MPs and MPPs and let them know your City needs financial relief so that you can continue to make use of the services and programming you need in Burlington.
 By Pepper Parr
June 11th, 2020
BURLINGTON, ON
It has been a tough week for members of Council.
They have been dealing with normal day to day business; looking at some fascinating tools related to win and shadow studies and trying to get a handle on just what the lock down is doing to the local economy.
Burlington Hydro reported on how much of a financial hit they have taken. Their numbers are not that bad – and they have only cut off service to one location for non-payment.
The Tourism people talked about the vacancy rates.
 The data was obtained from a screen shot of material that was shown to members of council who were meeting in a virtual session. And the finance people are looking at where we are likely to be financially when this is all over – and at the same time casting an eye on what the 2021 budget might look like.
 This graph sets out the revenue lost from the shut down of programs and fees tat were not paid  This graph shows what the city has done to offset as much of the revenue loss as possible. Director of Finance Joan Ford produced two graphs that set out what the financial picture looks like. The biggest financial draw has been for transit where there is no revenue and a lot of expense.
Neither mall has paid their taxes – the city is expecting them to be caught up by the end of June.
By Staff
May 27th, 2020
BURLINGTON, ON
Burlington City Council Monday evening approved the 2020 Tax Levy Bylaw.
The bylaw allows the City to bill 2020 property taxes and set payment due dates for final tax bills on Aug. 20 and Oct. 20, 2020. Final tax bills will be mailed in early July.
That may sound a little confusing. City Treasurer Joan Ford explains.
 Director of Finance Joan Ford found a way to provide some tax relief for people pressed financially during the Pandemic. “We have two property tax billings mailed out each year – Interim and Final
“The bills are mailed out in January for Interim and normally in May for Final (this year the final bills are being mailed out in July instead of May)
“Each billing has two installment due dates
Here is where it gets tricky. The COVID19 Pandemic and the crisis it created resulted in the city giving people more time to pay their taxes.
The February payment stood as it was; the April payment was moved to June 30th (they called it Pandemic relief) That covered the Interim Billing – which is basically the first half of the year.
The June and September payment dates for the Final Billing were moved to August and October.
The 2020 Tax Levy Bylaw reflects the budget processes that determines tax rate for both the City and Halton Region. The province determines the education tax rates.
The overall city property tax increase is 2.43 per cent or $18.03 for each $100,000 of urban residential assessment. Tax impacts will vary by property based on actual changes in the assessed value of the property relative to others.
Interim billing generally represents 50% of last years taxes in which the payment is divided into the two installments.
Final billing represents the remaining 50% plus any budget changes for the city & region and changes in education taxes divided into two installments
The Final tax bill will show what the total taxes are for the year less what was levied earlier in the year as part of interim taxes with the balance split between the two installments.
COVID-19 Property Tax Relief
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Council approved temporary property tax relief which allows businesses and residents additional time to pay their April property tax installment, without incurring late payment charges.
For property taxpayers impacted by COVID-19 who require additional assistance for repayment of the April 21 instalment beyond June 30, the City is offering enrollment in a monthly pre-authorized payment plan.
This plan will provide for monthly withdrawals from Aug. 1 to Dec. 1 to pay the remaining 2020 property taxes (April, August, and October instalments). No penalty or interest is charged for taxpayers enrolled in this plan. Please visit Burlington.ca/propertytax for more information or email pap@burlington.ca to register.
 Here is where the tax money collected goes – the city Treasurer collects for the Boards of Education and the Regional government which includes the police. The City of Burlington collects property taxes for the city, Halton Region and the Halton district school boards. The total combined tax levy for all three entities is approximately $431 million. The city’s levy is $174 million; the city collects $138 million on behalf of Halton Region; and $119 million on behalf of the Halton district school boards. The taxes levied for Halton Region and the Halton district school boards are remitted to them.
Related news story:
Keeping the city solvent when there isn’t much in the way of revenue and expenses unheard of before
By Pepper Parr
May 24th, 2020
BURLINGTON, ON
Joan Ford, the Director of Finance for the city got dealt a bad hand and now has to juggle like crazy to keep the city financially stable
Ms Ford collects the taxes – all the taxes. She collects the city property taxes, the Boards of Education taxes and the Regional government taxes.
 Director of Finance Joan Ford does a great job of providing the data; her department does a good job of collecting the taxes as well. At predetermined times of the year she sends the appropriate portion of the taxes levied to the people they were collected on behalf of; she has to send them the tax that was levied – even if she didn’t collect it.
Ms Ford explains that “it isn’t all that hard to do because in Burlington the city is able to collect 98% of the taxes levied. In any given year, we are required to remit the amount of taxes levied to the region and the boards of education, regardless of whether all of the taxes have been collected.
For this reason, municipalities that collect the taxes are able to charge penalty and interest to assist with cash flows regarding the non-payment of property taxes.
Historically, the City of Burlington has an excellent property tax collection record, approximately 98% of the taxes levied are collected in the current year.
 Joan Ford, the city’s Director of Finance knows where every dollar comes from and where every dollar gets spent. As part of a presentation Ms Ford recently made to committee/council, she included cash flow projections which consider all payments out ( payroll & property tax remittances) as well as revenues in (property tax collection. The projected June 30th cash flow position is estimated at $20.6M after making the Region of Halton tax remittance of $33.4M for the April installment share of taxes levied.
“The next school board remittance payment is scheduled for Sept 30th deferred from June 30th. The deferral of the property tax remittances by the Region and the Province (for education taxes) has certainly assisted given delayed tax collection for the months of April through June as well as delayed final billing due dates” added Ms Ford.
This is financial juggling at its best.
By Staff
April 22nd, 2020
BURLINGTON, ON
Senior City staff provided an update on the financial impacts of COVID-19 to a city council that was meeting virtually. The Mayor, the City Clerk and a third person in the audio visual room were in the Council Chamber.
Council was asked to endorse a three-month strategy that prioritizes City services to be provided through to the end of June 2020 to maintain critical and essential services for the city.
Council also approved the recommendation that Committee of the Whole meetings be scheduled to help City business continue and moving forward, virtual delegations will now be allowed for members of the public at City Council meetings.
In addition, Council also approved adding an increased penalty of $250 to specific parking infractions that violate COVID-19 bylaws and orders.
Financial impacts of COVID-19
The strategic management of the City budget and finances continues to be a priority. City Council and staff remain committed to fiscal responsibility and accountability and are focused on offsetting all of the COVID-19 related City revenue losses to June 30, 2020 and are looking ahead past July 2020 to mitigate a shortfall at 2020 year-end. The City is closely monitoring and carefully managing the financial impacts of the COVID-19 emergency while at the same time ensuring taxpayers receive good value for City services that continue, as outlined in the three-month work plan.
The city expects to spend less due to facility closures, not having to pay part time workers plus a significant amount on discretionary spending. They will incur costs of $300,000 on COVID-19 costs
That story is best told in chart form.
 These are funds the city will not be getting due to the shut down of city hall and the closing of many of the services.
 These are funds the city will also not get but for which there are reserves that can be drawn upon.  These are operational savings. Gapping is money budgeted for a job that is vacant.  This suggests the city is short just $200,000
 Projections are just that – projections. There are all kinds of things that can happen between now and July. Canada Day has been cancelled. Keep in mind – these numbers get us to end of June – early July.
Will the curve be flattened by then or will the virus make a return when people are permitted to congregate?
Municipalities are required to approve a budget that is balanced, however, the City can have a shortfall or surplus in a given year. A shortfall can be offset by:
• using reserve funds
• increasing taxes in the next year; or
• reducing expenditures during the year of the anticipated shortfall. This is what Burlington is attempting to do to mitigate a shortfall at year-end.
Three-month work plan for COVID-19 Emergency Response Strategy
The City of Burlington COVID-19 emergency response strategy defines the City’s resource needs over the next three-month operating period, to June 30, 2020, to deal with the effects and impacts of the virus on our community and staff. The COVID-19 emergency response strategy and the three-month work plan will be reviewed on a regular cycle to ensure relevancy for operations given the situation and circumstances of this dynamic environment.
Increased parking fines
Council also approved adding an increased penalty of $250 to specific parking infractions that violate COVID-19 bylaws and orders. Current parking penalties related to public health and safety issues such as blocking fire routes, accessible parking, idling and blocking snow operations range from $120 -$400. The add-on $250 penalty is in line with this range and is meant to act as a deterrent to parking in areas that are closed under the City’s COVID-19 State of Emergency. Enforcement officers have been given authority to decide when to apply the additional fee with the goal being education and compliance.
Virtual delegations
At the April 20 meeting, City Council also approved a recommendation to allow virtual delegations from members of the public at Council meetings, beginning in May 2020. For future council meetings, delegates can make a request to delegate to council using the online form or send an email to clerks@burlington.ca. Delegate speaking notes will need to be submitted to Clerks before the meeting in case there are connectivity issues. Delegates will speak to council virtually via phone or internet connection.
To prevent the spread of COVID-19, City Council meetings will continue to be held virtually. During this Council meeting, Mayor Meed Ward was the only member of Council present in Council Chambers along with the City Clerk/designate and an information technology technician. All members of Council participated in the meeting remotely and no members of the public were in attendance.
By Pepper Parr
April 17th, 2020
BURLINGTON, ON
City Council will learn from city staff what they expect the financial impacts of COVID-19 will be and seek Council’s endorsement of a three-month strategy that prioritizes which City services will be provided through to the end of June 2020.
Out of those deliberations will come a three-month work plan for the strategic management of the City budget and finances.
A statement from the administration seeks to assure City Council that staff remain committed to fiscal responsibility and accountability and are focused on offsetting all of the COVID-19 related City revenue losses to June 30, 2020 and are looking ahead past July 2020 to mitigate a shortfall at 2020 year-end.
A report detailing the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the City’s budget will be presented. This report will include:
• estimated revenue impacts of $7.6 million to June 30, 2020
• estimated expenditure savings of $5.2 million to June 30, 2020
• cash flow projections to June 30, 2020
• future financial modelling to identify pressures, dependent on the length of the pandemic, and recovery scenarios.
Municipalities are required to approve a budget that is balanced, however, the City can have a shortfall or surplus in a given year. A shortfall can be offset by:
• using reserve funds
• increasing taxes in the next year; or
• reducing expenditures during the year of the anticipated shortfall.
Burlington is attempting to mitigate a shortfall at year-end.
 Mayor Marianne Meed Ward Mayor Marianne Meed Ward said: “Our City is currently in a good position thanks to savings we’ve acquired through our winter maintenance budget, the result of a light winter, and major tenders that came in under budget.
 Joan Ford, Chief Financial Officer Joan Ford, Chief Financial Officer is the one who has to do the numbers juggling. Ms Ford and her team have always been conservative and cautious. She explains that: “In recognition of significant revenue losses such as transit fares, recreation programming and property tax deferrals, an expenditure restraint program was immediately implemented across the City to assist in mitigating the financial impacts.”
Will council listen or will they scour the reserve funds and look for ways to make up the shortfall from that source?
Monday is going to be a long day for city council – how deep their hands go into your pockets in the years ahead will be determined then.
By Pepper Parr
April 9th, 2020
BURLINGTON, ON
We are not likely to see numbers like these in the 2020 financials – linger over them.
Most financial statements use the phrase profit/loss or surplus/deficit. Municipalities are different – they refer to what we know as a surplus as a “positive variance” and what we know as a deficit is a “negative variance”.
Municipalities are not permitted to have a loss – which is why they have reserves; funds they can draw upon when a particular account eats up what the departments had budgeted.
Snow removal is one account that is almost impossible to budget for – the 2014 flood was another example. When they need funds for unexpected events like these – they turn to a reserve fund.
The Tax Stabilization fund is the “piggy bank” that gets tapped frequently. It is also the account that any “surplus” or positive variance gets deposited into.
Where were the budgets over and under from the Strategic Plan viewpoint?
 The four strategic plan pillars – how the budget was allocated. Spending looked at from a departmental viewpoint. Where things went well and where things slipped up.
The expensive mistake of getting the Customer Service software in place and operation isn’t reflected in this report – some questions to ask at this level.
The earnings on investment appears to be what made the positive variance.
Does this report give the city finance department an A or a C?
 The investment revenue sort of papered over the problem areas. This report provides an overview of the financial performance of the 2019 Operating Budget and additional variance commentary for select services as at December 31, 2019.
By Pepper Parr
March 26th, 2020
BURLINGTON, ON
After completing two Special Meetings of City Council electronically the public is advised that meetings for the month of April will be done electronically as well.
The first was very short – nine minutes – and a little on the bumpy side.
When the second meeting rolled out it was quite a bite better; the Council members had figured out when to mute the microphones and to speak loudly and directly.
At the close of the second meeting Councillor Sharman had moved into his jocular mode and was rather enjoying himself.
The virtual meetings approach will be used for any Council or committee meetings scheduled in April. The regularly scheduled Council meeting for March 30, 2020 is cancelled.
Next Council meeting and property tax relief
At its next Council meeting, City Council will consider temporary changes to provide relief for the April 21 property tax installment to help residents and businesses experiencing financial hardship during the COVID-19 outbreak.
The temporary changes being proposed would mean that for the months of April and May 2020, with additional extensions being considered on a monthly basis:
• No penalty will be charged for the April 21 installment for all property owners
• No month-end interest will be charged for all property owners
• No non-sufficient fund (NSF) fee will be charged by the City for any returned tax payments
• Pre-Authorized tax payments will continue to be withdrawn. Please note: individuals on a pre-authorized payment plan that are unable to make payment can temporarily suspend their withdrawals from their account by emailing pap@burlington.ca. To suspend your withdrawal, the City requires notification at least three business days prior to the withdrawal date.
Taxpayers who sent a postdated cheque to the City for their April tax installment and can no longer make payment are asked to put a stop payment on the cheque at their bank.
We encourage taxpayers to make payments where possible during these unique times. Tax inquiries can be sent by email to propertytax@burlington.ca or by phone to 905-335-7750.
The two electronic meetings made it clear that debate and discussion is somewhat limited when the seven people are at different locations. Staff participation will be very different.
 Mayor Marianne Meed Ward – chairing an electronic meeting of City Council with all the members of Council taking part from their homes, It went very well Mayor Meed Ward did a good job in keeping things moving along.
When votes were taken each Council member called out Yeah! We can expect that to become a feature of future council meetings when this virus has done whatever it is going to do.
The Region held their meeting electronically as well. The production values for the Burlington web cast were far far superior to what the Region broadcast. Good on Dave Thomson, Burlington audio visual technician – who brings a certain kind of magic to what appears on the monitors in the Council chamber and what is seen on the webcast.
Nothing yet on how public delegations will be handled. They are do-able; all the administration has to do is make their will known
By Pepper Parr
March 24th, 2020
BURLINGTON, ON
City council will be meeting this afternoon for two Special Council meetings that will be held back to back.
 LaSalle Park Marina before the new wave break was approved. One of the items on the agenda for the second session is giving Burlington Hydro permission to negotiate a bigger line of credit with their bank. The credit limit at the moment is $10 million.
They want to take it to $20 million.
One of the reasons for going to $20 million is the concern that some of the large hydro accounts may not be able to pay their hydro bills due to their own cash flow problems.
The decision to increase the line of credit is prudent.
Joan Ford, the city’s Treasurer knows where every dollar comes from and where every dollar gets spent. She would have preferred to see reserve funds kept as reserve. While they won’t say as much; both City manager Tim Commisso and Treasurer Joan Ford would have liked to seen more in the way of prudence when city council decided to draw down $4 million that was in the Hydro Reserve account a number of months ago.
The uncommitted balance in the Hydro reserve fund at December 31/19 was $8,658,790.
Council decided to pull $4 million out of the reserve fund to pay for the wave break that was needed at the LaSalle Park Marina
Using public money to pay for the wave break was a contentious issue at the time – council took the position that a city on Lake Ontario should have a marina and a wave break was necessary.
Commisso and Ford are old hands at things municipal – they treat reserves the way some treat family heirlooms – you never let them go.
 City manager Tim Commisso. I could have sworn Tim Commisso was experiencing an upset stomach when the decision was made to raid a reserve account.
It will be interesting to hear what they have to say in the way of comments this afternoon when council approves the decision to approve the increase in the line of credit.
Related news story:
Hydro asking Council to approve a bigger line of bank credit
By Pepper Parr
March 18, 2020
BURLINGTON, ON
How do you run a city when what you think what was going to be possible when you got to work proves to have changed before lunch. And by that time of day you have handled upwards of 100 emails and attended two critical meetings with two more in the afternoon.
That’s the pace City Manager Tim Commisso has found himself dealing with – and he knows it isn’t going to change any time soon.
 In an exclusive interview with the Gazette Commisso said “it has been this way since last Thursday” – “focusing on public safety and doing everything possible from an administrative point of view to help stop the spread of the virus.”
Managing virus infections is in the hands of the Hospital with the Regional Medical Officer of Health alongside to ensure that communication with the public is as clear as they can make it.
“The Province is under a State of Emergency – so they call all the shots. Two of my people keep a close watch of what comes out of the federal and provincial offices.”
The job for Commisso is to ensure that he has the resources he needs and is able to allocate them – that changes by the hour.
Treasurer Joan Ford has created special accounts to monitor the spending.
 Gerry Smallgage, Hydro president has a lot of crisis management experience – he was front and center during the 2013 ice storm. All the senior staff on the Emergency Control Group are putting in the same long hours. Gerry Smallgage, President of Burlington Hydro, sits in on the ECG meetings as does the Mayor who ensures that members of council are fully engaged.
Commisso reports that about 5% of staff are working from home. He added that there is a certain amount of “apprehension” within city hall but added that “all the senior staff on the Emergency Control Group have worked very hard on our COVID 19 emergency response…very proud of their work as a team especially over the past week.”
We are dealing with a different reality – a situation that is dynamic, changing every time there is a change at the federal and provincial levels.
 Burlington Teen Tour Band was cancelled due to concerns over COVID19 in the United States. “A week ago we cancelled the Teen Tour Band trip to the United States,” said Commisso. “and we did so very reluctantly – there wouldn’t be any reluctance today.
“We are in meetings that run from an hour to four and a half hours; the volume of information is staggering. Work done at the municipal level impacts on almost everyone.
I am in touch with the Regional CAO at least once a day.
Mayor Meed Ward sits in on all critical meetings and attends the meetings at the hospital as well. It is in situations like this where the Mayor excels – she is a Momma Bear when there is a challenge and loves situations where decisions have to be made quickly and a questioning voice is needed.
Coordinating communications is the critical part –people need to know what we are all up against.
“I am currently working within a three week window – keeping a close eye on the resources I have and where I might have to allocate them.”
City Manager Tim Commisso – 15 hour days. Asked if he thought this was what the job was going to be when Marianne Meed Ward invited him for coffee – there was a long pause before he said – “I did have six solid weeks of experience getting Thunder Bay through the flood they had while I was CAO there.”
Asked if there were summer vacation plans for the Commisso family in place, Commisso just sighed.
Which raises an important question: Should Commisso fall ill – who would fill the shoes he wears?
By Staff
Feb 25th, 2020
BURLINGTON, ON
There was an item in a recent Regional Council agenda.
It was the passing of a bylaw that would let finance staff negotiate a $17 million plus debenture which was to meet some of the financial needs of the four municipalities in the Region.
Of the $17,100,000 debenture $10 million of the proceeds goes to Burlington.
 The graphic was a bit of a stunner for Burlingtonians.
In the comments included in the report that went to Regional Council was the following:
Consistent with the current growth environment, measures of inflation are expected to remain around 2 percent. With interest rates presently at low levels and current market conditions favourable the Regional Chair and Commissioner of Finance and Regional Treasurer were authorized to engage the services of CIBC World Markets Inc., RBC Dominion Securities Inc., BMO Nesbit Burns Inc., and/or Scotia Capital Inc. as fiscal agents and enter into all agreements and ancillary documents necessary to secure the terms and issuance of a market debenture issue for all or part of the $17,100,000.
We learned as well that the Region has maintained its bond rating. Regional Chair Carr takes great pride is telling people that the Region has a better bond rating than the American government.
 By Pepper Parr
February 11th, 2020
BURLINGTON, ON
There is much more background in a report from the Audit committee that will be going to a Standing committee later this week on the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) service the city has been struggling to get efficiently operational.
 Ward 2 Councillor Lisa Kearns – saw some serious problems and didn’t see much in the way of solutions. The first the Gazette heard that the problems were serious was when ward 2 Councillor Lisa Kearns reported to her constituents that she was experiencing problems.
The Audit Committee report provides a lot of background. In their report they provide seven audit findings that are cause for concern.
Burlington has been talking about finding a way to communicate more effectively with people – city hall calls them customers, since 2016 when they hired AtFocus Inc., a consulting firm, to help create a Customer Service strategy for the city. The project was given the working title of Service Brilliance – which unfortunately hasn’t exactly shone.
Add to the CRM was a Knowledge Base which combined, was to improve customer service in city services through greater efficiencies in the management of queries, requests and issues.
Most Burlingtonians wanted to stick with the kind of situation where they can just call their Councillor or a staff member and get answers to their questions. That wasn’t the way city hall saw things working. There isn’t a staff directory on the city web site.
The city chose a solution developed by Rock Solid Technologies specifically designed to address CRM in medium to small sized municipalities and is integrated with Microsoft Dynamics. RSTI uses a cloud based hosting provider.
The project has a Steering committee – 9 department directors and the project manager; the city manager is described as the Project Champion.
The team consists of:
Project manager (project dedicated),
Business operations coordinator (project dedicated),
IT business analyst (originally part-time; now project dedicated),
Business lead (part-time from Clerk’s Department),
Business process coordinator (part-time),
Corporate change management lead (originally part-time, now project dedicated),
Communications lead (part-time
The CRM project has faced a long journey to acceptance within the organization. The idea for CRM was first proposed over 10 years ago.
The project began in early 2016 and its place as a corporate project was established in 2017. Since then, the project has experienced several challenges
The project team was originally established within Clerk’s Department and transitioned to the Corporate Strategy and Projects Office in early 2018.
Project Manager –this role has been filled by 4 individuals since the project started in2016. The most recent transition occurred in May 2019.
Business Lead –This role has recently transitioned to a new City employee. The previous business lead had significant corporate knowledge of the project given their role as initial project manager and their involvement in the RFP, vendor selection and privacy impact assessment.
Project Champion –This role transitioned to a new employee in January 2019. That new employee is the city manager.
Training Lead –This role has recently changed.
Steering Committee –The steering committee was the original Customer Service Steering Committee(since 2015), transitioning to the project steering committee with membership expansion/change in 2018.
Corporate change management lead–this role was assigned to the project, with 20% availability, in early 2018.
Information Technology –the involvement of ITS in the project was limited. While involved in the RFP process and vendor assessment, their involvement in the implementation was focused on integration with existing systems and preliminary security assessments.
The scope of the audit that was done – which is the report being presented to the Standing Audit committee on Wednesday, was limited and specifically excluded the procurement/purchasing process and decision leading to the selection of Rock Solid Technology as the vendor for CRM software and implementation support.
There were seven audit findings.
Governance where performance and responsibility were looked at.
The CRM project charter indicates project oversight by named individuals who are directors of participating departments, managers from partner functions, and the project manager.
Whether a program or a project, clarity of roles, responsibilities and decision-making authority establish the foundation for accountability, improve productivity, save time, minimize conflict and set shared expectations and understanding of the project/program mission and deliverables.
The breadth and depth of discussions, member participation, and meeting frequency are factors contributing to project governance. When any one or all of these factors are not operating as intended, the governance of the project may not be effective.
The current pause in the CRM project implementation provides the opportunity for the steering committee to re-group and consider its mandate and effectiveness including: Definition of broader plans to coordinate and implement initiatives to deliver the Service Brilliance Strategy. Clearly define the roles, responsibilities and authority of the steering committee, project sponsor, and project team members in an updated project charter (or program charter.
Conduct a self-assessment of the Steering Committee’s effectiveness considering quality of information for discussions, meeting attendance and meeting frequency.
Establish a decisions document to track key decisions made by the steering committee, project sponsor, and project manager. This log will also support on-boarding of new steering committee members, project team members and on-going operations.
There is far too much detail in the lengthy staff report for a normal news report.
The problems with the service the city wants to put in place have resulted in a pause until the issues are resolved.
It will be interesting to see what Staff add to the report they want council to receive and what Council has in the way of questions.
The public isn’t happy, staff are not happy; the staff turnover has been alarming.
More once the Audit Standing Committee has met.
Related news story:
Kearns brings up problems with the way constituents deal with the city.
By Pepper Parr
January 28th, 2020
BURLINGTON, ON
Councillor Angelo Bentivegna just might have caught a break.
While Council was going through some of the BAR reports (Budget Action Requests) that had not been dealt with he pressed once again for a review of the side walk snow clearing the city does – he lost that attempt at Standing Committee and was about to lose it again at Council when the Clerk pointed out to the Mayor that a vote lost at Standing Committee could not be brought up at the following council meeting.
 Ward 6 Councillor Angelo Bentivegna arguing for a look at who is actually paying for a business license. The Mayor, as chair of a council meeting decided that she would overrule the clerk and let Bentivegna continue. He then lost that same vote at council.
But his second issue gathered some traction – not enough to win him the votes he needed but it did let him get his point on the table – and it was a very valid point.
Bentivegna believes that there are a large number of commercial and service operations in the city that do not have a business license and this time he had some data to support the contention.
Bentivegna said he had conversations with the Burlington Downtown Business Association (BDBA) people, the Economic Development Corporation and several members of Staff and no one could tell him how many businesses there were in Burlington.
What Bentivegna was about to learn was that revenue from the business license sector was just under $500,000 and that it had not increased between 2018 and 2019.
He concluded from that data that there were about 1800 licenses issued and paid for – and argued that there were perhaps 10,000 businesses operating in the city.
Bentivegna wanted a conversation to take place that would educate the business sector and bring them to the point where they would make a point of getting a license.
 Councillor Bentivegna listening to his council colleagues. The issue got a little muddied when the Mayor commented that the BEDC did have the data on how many businesses there are in Burlington and that the BDBA also knew what the number was.
When it came to a vote – the only person who supported Bentivegna’ s Staff Direction was Councillor Stolte.
So the matter is closed – yet there is that lingering question: what if Angelo Bentivegna is right?
Why not put some effort to determining that question?
Councillor Bentivegna might have wanted to search the Gazette archives to learn how funding requests get handled. In the 2015 budget then Ward 1 Councillor Rick Craven wanted one time funding of $35,000 for the Downtown Data Collection Project pulled. “He points out that the original staff recommendation in September 2015 included the following observation: “After considering the staff and funding resources that would be required to collect accurate and useful data to inform the performance indicators and headline measures, staff is of the opinion that the value of obtaining and maintaining such data as a means to evaluating the experience of the downtown may be limited” Remove project and one-time funding of $35,000
Related news story:
Bentivegna gets called out for his treatment of a delegation
Bentivegna thinks city should be going after lost revenue
 By Pepper Parr
December 30th, 2019
BURLINGTON, ON
The city has to contend with the reality of the market – the bank rate (the amount Bank of Canada charges BIG banks for the money they borrow) which means the city pays more for what it borrows – and the city borrows a lot.
Based on the economics of the market, staff, in a report to Council, said they “will maintain the following investment strategies leading into 2020;
• Maintain investments in the City’s long-term portfolio taking the opportunity to invest in new bond issuances. Once the interest rate environment stabilizes, invest in longer durations to maximize rate of return while managing risk to ensure there will not be a liquidity issue to meet commitments.
• Trade bonds for capital gains by taking advantage of market fluctuations generated by economic data. Staff will focus on maximizing capital gains at the appropriate times and reinvest in the market taking advantage of higher interest rates at a longer duration.
Investment income is projected to meet budget for year-end based on the detailed below which is up to and including September 30th.
 Not meeting the investment targets. Appendix A, below, shows investment income (interest earned, and capital gains realized) to September 30, 2019 on the total investment portfolio. The net bank position as of September 30, 2019 has increased by $21.7M. This increase is slightly offset by a decrease in the long term portfolio.
The remaining increase is attributed to the receipt of $5.6M from the Federal Government for the one-time top up payment related to the Gas Tax as well as unexpended capital funds allocated to capital projects.
Appendix B provides a listing of the current portfolio by type of investment, and weighted average yield, in accordance with the Ontario Regulation 438/97. In following the City of
 Appendix B listing of the current portfolio by type  Appendix A, shows investment income Burlington’s investment policy, the City can purchase Region of Halton bonds, up to but not greater than, the amount of the debenture issued on behalf of the City. As of September 30, 2019, the City’s investment portfolio included $15.6 million Region of Halton bonds.
As at September 30, 2019 the City’s investment portfolio is compliant with the guidelines set out in the City’s investment policy and goals adopted by the City.
PROPERTY TAX COLLECTION
 The City of Burlington collects property taxes for the city, Region of Halton and the Halton Boards of Education as legislated under the Municipal Act, 2001. Appendix C reflects the property tax status at September 30, 2019 compared to September 30, 2018. The 2019 total levy is $420.6 million compared to $409.8 million in 2018.
Collections for the current taxation year are 93.6%, which is consistent with prior years as highlighted in the chart below and detailed below:
Arrears notices are sent four times per year to aid in collections. In addition to arrears notices, tax collection letters are sent to owners with arrears in both the current year and two previous years; business properties are sent letters in the first quarter and residential properties in the second quarter.
A property title search is undertaken in November on accounts with three years of arrears and any lenders are notified. This results in most accounts being paid.
For those properties that remain three years in arrears, the Municipal Act, 2001 allows for a tax sale process to begin in January. The owner or any interested party has one year to pay out the tax arrears. If arrears remain after the one year period, the city may proceed with a municipal tax sale. Since 2000 there have been seven tax sales in Burlington.
The city offers multiple payment options including three pre-authorized payment plans which provide a convenient and reliable payment method for property owners. Approximately one third (20,000) of all property accounts are enrolled in pre-authorized payment plans.
The big picture:
 Department by department – broken into the four pillars of the Strategic Plan.
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