Mayor Meed Ward does it again - shuffle tax increase projections to make then look less than they actually are

By Pepper Parr

July 14th, 2022

BURLINGTON, ON

Staff in the Finance department set out what they believed was going to have to be raised in taxes for 2023  They projected an increase of 7.97% and explained how they got there

That 4.55% on the far right needs to be explained.  The number is correct but it isn’t what the Mayor would have you think.

The city collects its own taxes, plus the taxes for the school boards and the Regional government.

Each of those jurisdictions levies a tax.

When the Mayor explains that what the taxpayer has to come up with is that blended rate – she is not wrong.

The blended rate is the tax increase the city is imposing, plus the tax rate the Region imposes plus the tax rate the boards of education impose and adds them up and then divides them by 3: the figure is called the blended rate.

Burlington has zero influence on the school board tax levy, the city has some influence on the Regional rate because all seven city council members sit on Regional Council.  Burlington has seven of the 24 Regional Council seats.

What the city controls is the tax levy that the finance department comes up with and which city council eventually decides on.  Council usually ends up at a tax rate very close to what the finance people recommend.

Mayor Meed Ward has said that in the past she has been able to cut $1 million out of the spending proposed.

The report the finance department put forward was labelled a Budget Framework – giving Councillors a solid heads up on what they are looking in terms of data at this point.

Councillor Rory Nisan got the debate started by saying what was clearly obvious: “… we have a pretty challenging budget ahead of us and this report isn’t locking us in anywhere but I’ve had the opportunity to sort of canvass with some residents about what’s being proposed through this budget and it’s not vibing very well.

“At this point. What I think we need is more options. The report does have some preview of options of what we can do to bring it down somewhat. But I think we need a sort of a low,  a middle and an upper range.  This what people are asking for –  I’ll be frank, some of this information is coming in kind of late and my own thinking is changing quickly.

Ward 3 Councillor Rory Nisan was not getting the vibe he wanted from his constituents – asks colleagues join him in asking finance to come up with some options. He didn’t get any takers

Nisan added that “If other councillors are interested perhaps we can do some work together. Just refer the report to September but I expect the response will be quite the opposite. So barring any other comments, I’ll just vote accordingly.”

The Mayor, sitting as Chair asks “:Do you wish to make a referral motion at this time or not?”

“Well, I would need a seconder for something like that but I’m quite content to vote accordingly. But if someone did raise their hand to refer it then yes, I would support that.”

No hands were raised

The data was pretty stark.

The top line in the graphic below is the line that matters.  It reflects what the finance people expect to need in the way of budget increases – expressed as a percentage over the previous year.

Councillor Kearns, no slouch when it comes to number crunching wouldn’t support the Nisan idea.

Councillor Kearns said “I will not be seconding it but I do want to just share that. The budget numbers that we did see of course are of concern. They are a deviation from what we would maybe have expected however, they are built out in our multi year simulation. I think a statement that only one council member is concerned with the numbers might not be reflective of everyone’s views and an opportunity to put forward everyone’s views would be inefficient at this time.

“So I’m going to just say that, you know, maybe those comments could be held back and I think we’ll work through the process as we should be.

Councillor Bentivegna tends to dig into numbers – expect him to be sharpening his pencil to go over numbers he doesn’t always understand.

Angelo Bentivegna, ward 6, said that  “at the end of the day, we were still going to be voting on the budget..  We make decisions at this table to reduce it or do what we think we need to do. So I won’t be supporting this either.”

Mayor Meed Ward, who was chair (this being a council meeting) said “I will offer my thoughts that we are receiving this file which is a  picture from our staff about what the future looks like if we wish to maintain services. At not only the expected level, but the level to account for the fact that we’re a growing municipality; we have well outpaced our growth 12 years early, but the development charges and other fees from that development and growth costs have not caught up yet.

“Because simply some of those units are still being constructed as we speak. So folks often ask us to try to keep our increases in line with inflation. Inflation is running at 8%  then adds that the tax increase before than was less than inflation.   So this budget picture actually is  less than inflation and in a post COVID world where everything has changed. I think it’s really important for us to start framing our conversations around what the final impact on our residents is going to be.”

This is an election year, it is very quiet at this point.  People are still coping with a pandemic that is supposed to be over yet hundreds of people are still getting very sick – with some dieing.

There are a lot of people in hospital recovering from and being treated for Covid19

With it now very clear that the Budget Framework report is going to be received and filed the Mayor moves to fudge the numbers  She doesn’t  lie – but the truth does takes a beating.

Mayor Meed Ward is going to have to find something that the public will like – and be ready to pat for if she is to come up with a budget that gets her through the election.

She explains hat what the taxpayer will be is actually a “blended rate” one that includes the Boards of Education taxes and the Regional government taxes.

We explained how that works above.

It is good to be eyes wide open. Our staff have certainly painted the picture of what’s coming and the five year projection out gives us that picture. And it’s difficult for every municipality and we would be doing a disservice to not be transparent about what the picture looks like.

So am I open to finding cuts? Yes, every budget I’ve tried to find roughly about a million bucks. That’s my average over 12 years. And I will always look for ways we can do things better and cheaper. But we have work to be done and we have service requests coming in from our residents that we have to that we have to respond to. And it’s not unicorns and fairies that do the work around the city. It’s real people. And we’re in a competitive labour environment as well. So it’s really important to have a transparent and honest discussion about the challenges we face and how this council is going to respond to them. Those are the comments for me and I will turn it to the clerk now for the recorded vote not seeing any other hands on the board.

The vote to receive and file the report carried.