Owen Sound city hall. (photo by Claire McCormack)
Owen Sound’s proposed 2023 budget calls for the lowest combined tax increase the city has seen in years.
Councillors reviewed the city’s draft operating and capital budgets Monday and Tuesday at city hall, and heard the spending plans will require a combined tax rate increase of 0.86 per cent. The average assessed household would see the annual tax bill increase by just over $36.
Owen Sound Mayor Ian Boddy says the low proposed increase is exactly what the city is aiming for to bring its higher tax rate down to be more in line with neighbouring municipalities over time. He says the city is starting to benefit from assessment growth, and taking advantage of it to keep tax increases lower.
“We know we’ve got some low-average income levels in our community and we’ve had high taxes. We need to move that down to be more competitive to be better for everybody,” Boddy says. “The goal for any municipality, especially for us, is to provide the best services that we can afford. And we know that we provide some of the best services in the area. It’s what can we afford? And if we can keep going and keep that growth going, it gives us the opportunity to bring our average taxes down more in line with others, and not see people moving out because of the cost of living.”
A 2022 BMA Study showed Owen Sound had among the lower average household incomes among municipalities in Bruce and Grey counties ($75,704), while also having the highest relative property taxes ($4,210).
Owen Sound’s Director of Corporate Services Kate Allan says more than $700,000 in savings were identified in the 2023 budget through changes to service delivery and staffing reductions. One of the bigger changes expected to deliver savings is bringing winter control maintenance of transit stops in-house, instead of contracting out.
Five staff positions were also affected. Allan says three full-time positions — deputy fire chief, manager of revenue and customer service representative — are vacant and not funded in the budget. Two other city jobs were restructured to cut some costs — one full-time position was moved to part-time, while a previous management role is now a technical coordinator position.
City council made some minor changes to the proposed budget during two days of deliberations. They approved spending $75,000 for the removal of trees affected by the invasive emerald ash borer. The purchase of a new utility truck for the fire hall was deferred.
Council also passed a motion to to redirect an annual capital project to add water bottle filling stations at facilities to focus on outdoor, public water fountains.
The city’s 2023 budget includes a $15.7-million capital spending plan.
More than 60 per cent of the city’s capital plan this year is for roads related projects. The reconstruction of Alpha Street between 6th and 9th Avenues West ($5.1-million) and Phase 2 of the Downtown River Precinct ($1.87-million) are some major ones on the books in 2023.
A tax policy review could still impact the ultimate burden to the city’s residential taxpayers, Allan notes.