pixel
Register User
Close
The Brampton Guardian The Brampton Guardian The Brampton Guardian The Brampton Guardian
SEARCH SITE
The Brampton Guardian
City toying with a tax increase of 3.4 per cent
The Brampton Guardian
Friday November 6 2009
By Pam Douglas
 
BRAMPTON - It won’t be “business as usual”  going into the City of Brampton’s 2010 budget deliberations at the end of this month, according to City Manager Deborah Dubenofsky.

In fact, it hasn’t been business as usual for some time now, with the economy still in the doldrums and a recovery not expected to really take hold until 2011.

“We know that people are struggling and we know that businesses are struggling to keep as many people employed as possible,”  Dubenofsky said.

Indications are Brampton residents have been pinching their pennies— fewer are visiting the Rose Theatre, too many are not paying their parking and speeding tickets, they’re not riding the bus like they have been, and the percentage of those out of work is higher in Peel (11.4 per cent) than the Ontario average (9.2 per cent).

The result for the city was the threat in April of an $11 million 2009 budget shortfall. That prospect forced city officials to take immediate action.

“I implemented the equivalent of a 10 per cent cut in spending across the board,” Dubenofsky said this week.

That pared down the $11 million shortfall to what is anticipated will now be a $6.6 million deficit, which will be covered by reserve money, she said.

A large chunk of that $4.4 million recovery was achieved by a hiring freeze, something that will continue through 2010, according to Dubenofsky.

For the first time in recent years, the city likely won’t add any new staff in the 2010 budget— except for 23 bus drivers needed in the upcoming implementation of the bus rapid transit system, Zum.

“We are asking our staff to step up and I am very pleased to report that they are doing just that,” Dubenofsky said of the current freeze on hiring new and replacement employees that saw approximately 130 positions go unfilled this year.

“We’re going to continue to do more with less,” she said. “So, belt-tightening.”

Much like residents who saw their mutual funds decrease in value, the city is being hit by the economic downtown as it watched the $28 million it earned in interest on investments last year drop to $16 million this year. The city has lost money as residents spend less on transit and going to the theatre, and refuse to pay Provincial Offences Act fines. A drop in planning and development revenues also contributed to the 2009 budget shortfall.

Dubenofsky said the city and city councillors are “mindful” of the financial realities taxpayers are facing, and the 2010 budget will reflect that.
There are many pressures on that budget, including continued growth, increasing fuel costs, new facility operating costs, and the potential for rising labour costs— the city will negotiate with CUPE for a new contract soon.

City staff were looking at a 12.5 per cent tax increase to meet all of the demands when the 2010 budget work began. From that starting point, cuts have been recommended by staff— a reduction of the number of Parks and Recreation brochures printed, an elimination of all but the necessary staff training, travel, conferences and seminars, delay by another year replacement of equipment including city vehicles.

User fee increases were also recommended: charging for duplicate  tax bills sent to mortgage holders, putting a surcharge on provincial offences fines referred to collections, and an increase in the parking rates downtown.

All those recommendations, and more, brought the potential tax increase down to 4.8 per cent. While that’s less than the 6.4 per cent tax increase brought in for 2009, city councillors will see at the end of this month what further cuts, bringing it down to 3.4 per cent or less, would look like.

That’s when the debate will begin and councillors will have to decide what they can and can’t live with.

On the table for consideration: reducing road resurfacing, eliminating COLA increases for non-union staff for 2010, targeting parks maintenance and eliminating Shakespeare in the Square in the downtown, which costs the city $100,000 annually. Dubenofsky said it is hoped a private sector sponsor can be found to take on the free outdoor theatre presentation.