Town council passes budget with 5.7 per cent tax hike
By Bill Rea

Caledon councillors didn't need much time Tuesday night to finally pass their 2008 budget.

They took less than an hour to pass the $54.9 million consolidated operating and capital budgets, although the vote was not unanimous.

The budget calls for a 5.7 per cent increase to Caledon's share of the property tax bill, but Councillor Jason Payne, backed by Councillor Annette Groves, tried to get his colleagues to agree to dip into municipal reserves and cut the tax hike back by a percentage point. There were no other takers.

Councillors, a week before, had been looking at the prospect of an 8.1 per cent increase. But they accepted the suggestion of Councillor Nick DeBoer to defer a payment the public works department owes to the Caledon Hydro Reserve Fund, thus freeing up approximately $586,000. That's what got it down to 5.7 per cent, and Payne believed it could be dropped even more, as he pointed out Peel Region's budget only calls for a tax increase of 4.3 per cent. He wanted to see something more in line with that.

"This is a lean year," he observed.

He added later he was just hoping to go easy on the taxpayers.

"I'm a taxpayer myself," he commented. "I would have appreciated the break."

Groves agreed, commenting she's maintained all along she was looking for an increase in the area of 4.5 per cent, and adding if they were able to take off 2.4 per cent, another point should have been possible.

She was still holding to the 4.5 per cent figure after the meeting. "I believe that's a fair increase," she remarked.

Town Treasurer and Director of Corporate Services Sam Jones told Groves a one per cent sift in the tax rate amounts to about $240,000 in revenues.

The other councillors weren't as willing to tinker with what had been achieved.

Councillor Richard Paterak pointed out a couple of points had already been shaved from the tax increase without cutting into the services to be provided. He didn't want to take anything more off, arguing that revenue would have to be made up in next year's budget.

"It's tempting," he admitted. "We're in a candy store right now."

But he also urged his colleagues to be wise and not jump at something just because it looked appealing. "Wisdom sometimes involves a little bit of pain," he observed.

Councillor Doug Beffort pointed out they had been told a year ago it would take between 12 and 18 months before returns would be realized from such initiatives as Mayfield West. He said something good should be coming this year, concluding that for 5.7 per cent, the Town stands to get 8.1 per cent of value.

He added if more tax cutting is deemed desirable, he said his colleagues should wait until next year and see what conditions are like.

"I like it the way it is," he concluded.

DeBoer thought it was pointless to try and match what Peel did, pointing out the Region has benefited from provincial uploading to give it more flexibility, a boost the Town didn't enjoy. "We've actually done a little bit better than the Region," he observed.

Councillor Allan Thompson said he was supporting the budget as presented, arguing it wasn't a good time to tinker with expenses. He pointed out there's already been a lot of road salt used by public works this year, adding "winter isn't over yet."

He wasn't anxious to dip into reserves, expressing concern there might be a recession coming. "We do need to weather the storm," he remarked.

Councillor Richard Whitehead said he's no fan of tax increases, but stressed the need to view the situation over the entire four-year term of council, and beyond. Growth in Caledon has been slow over the last couple of years, on the order of one per cent annually, but he argued larger growth is likely in the future. He also said it didn't make sense to dip into the reserves to cut a point from the tax increase. If council really wants to tax less, he said it should spend less money on fewer projects.

Jones had previously reported some 64 per cent of the spending in the budget was going to be for the public works and engineering, recreation and property services and fire departments. Whitehead warned against shortchanging any of them. "We'll pay a fearful price later," he observed.

Jones said the plan is to finance about 48 per cent of the budget through taxes, with 33 per cent coming from recoveries and other sources, like user fees.

The results, he said, will include some $1.7 million in major road rehabilitation work, $1 million to buy five new vehicles for the public works department, $1.7 million for road resurfacing and about $400,000 for parks and trails improvements. The budget also calls for spending about $500,000 for a new fire pumper and rescue vehicle, and $400,000 for a new fulltime shift at the Bolton fire hall. As well, some $700,000 is slated to be spent on renovations and repairs to recreation facilities around town (Jones said just about every facility will be seeing some work) and $300,000 has been set aside to cover the annualized costs of the new ice pad in Caledon East. The planning and development department will be conducting studies this year on such matters as the Alton Village Community Plan, Bolton Community Improvement Plan, South Albion Bolton Community Plan and the Mayfield West Plan. This work is all slated to cost about $700,000.

The impact of a 5.7 cent increase is going to mean another $60 per year for the average Caledon Homes assessed at $361,000. Jones said an easy way for people to calculate what the tax increase will be on their home is to count $17 for every $100,000 their home is assessed at.

Jones had also stressed that while the Town is responsible for collecting all the property taxes in Caledon, it only keeps about 31 per cent for its own use. Roughly 41 per cent goes to Peel Region and the other 28 per cent goes toward education.

Peel has already passed a tax increase of 4.3 per cent, and Jones said the province has announced there will be no increase in residential taxes to cover education. Factoring in that information means the total property tax bill will go up by 3.3 per cent, or $121 for a home assessed at $361,000, or roughly $34 for every $100,000 of assessment.

Jones also told Paterak the percentage of the expenses being covered by recoveries and user fees has been steadily going up over the years. In 1979, it was about 7.2 per cent, 10.3 per cent in '89 and 18 per cent in 2003. This year, it's slated to be 33 per cent. "We triple it over every five-year period, approximately," he said.

A 3.3 per cent overall increase "is about as good as we're going to get," Whitehead observed.

"I think it's a solid budget," Mayor Marolyn Morrison remarked, adding it address priorities residents wanted addressed

There were a few people in the public gallery, and not all of them were pleased with what happened.

There had been talk about the Town bracing itself for a recession, with some people wondering about what would protect the taxpayers.

And Bolton resident John Darpino was angry that the budget was passed before members of the public had a chance to speak.

"I'm appalled at what happened," he declared.

His wife Rose agreed.

"They made up their minds even before there was public comment," she charged.