Photo: Goderich Town Hall
Goderich town council is getting closer to finalizing the 2025 budget.
Council met Monday afternoon to discuss some funding changes and adjustments that will have an overall impact on the budget.
Treasurer Diana Hastie gave a presentation to council to explain changes that had been made, funding that had been found, and expenses still to be covered.
Changes include county support for the OPP court security and prison transport costs.
Mayor Trevor Bazinet was happy to see the county funding added to the budget calculations, as he was the one to directly approach his colleagues on Huron County council to understand why support was needed.
“I want to offer my gratitude to county staff and county council for understanding this is the fair and equitable way of doing it, instead of having the town of Goderich pay for the entire [cost] of prisoner transportation and court services, because the courthouse is in the town of Goderich,” he commented during the budget meeting.
Town staff was also about to shift funding from various reserves to help cover the costs of a summer student for by-law staff, storage cabinets for the cots at the childcare centre, and covering an increase in salaries at the EarlyOn Program.
Council also got a glimpse of which current fleet vehicles are in need of replacing. Overall, seven vehicles need replacing for town staff, because they are well beyond the seven-year service lifespan.
“This is exactly what we need to see, as far as I’m concerned,” remarked Bazinet. “[There’s] good data there to give us a better understanding [of how many fleet vehicles] we have and the years of service and condition of [them].”
As Hastie took council through the revised budget, it was revealed that there would be a memorandum of understanding with the Goderich Little Theatre, but although an agreement was initiated, it was not finalized, but it would also likely be funded by the Cultural Reserve and not have an impact on the tax levy.
By the end of Hastie’s presentation, it was revealed that there was a new outstanding amount of unfunded expenses of just over $408,000 from both operating and capital costs.
However, because of a carryover surplus from 2024, and growth-based tax revenue, plus a 1% tax increase this year, then that entire amount would be fully funded.
