Adam Prudhomme
Editor
The average Greater Napanee ratepayer will be looking at a $85.53 increase on their yearly tax bill, a rate rise of 6.68 per cent from 2023.
Council approved the draft budget by a count of six votes to one during a special meeting held Tuesday morning in town hall chambers. Councillor Dave Pinnell Jr. was the lone opposed.
The total budget, which is expected to be officially adopted at the March 12 meeting, comes in at $22 million, a 7.88 per cent levy increase from last year-roughly $1.11 million. Property taxation will cover $15.22 million of the total budget cost, the rest made up through federal and provincial support, grants, user fees and reserves.
When asked by councillor Bob Norrie to quantify how much of the budget is a fixed cost, deputy treasurer Nathan Murphy said it’s hard to pinpoint an exact number, noting that road repairs are a variable cost, but a necessary one. Murphy did mention policing is a major cost that they have no control over, coming in at about 25 per cent of the budget.
In the report submitted to council, town staff listed capital improvements of approximately $3 Million including $1.3 million in road work, $900,000 in fleet replacement, $440,000 in parks and facilities upgrades and $50,000 to support the fire department’s bunker gear replacement program among the budget highlights.
“To fund these capital projects, $500,000 in federal funding and $945,000 in provincial funding, along with municipal contributions of $900,000 will be utilized. Also included is over $500,000 in growth related projects funded by development charges,” reads the report.
Increased support for doctor recruitment and retention is also included in the budget.
“Nobody wants to see taxes go up, they only want to see them go down,” said deputy mayor Brian Calver. “Unfortunately the world we’re in today, everybody wants, wants, wants and all these wants cost money. When it comes to our capital assets that we’re purchasing here, like the trackless (a cost $300,000 as part of their fleet upgrade) and stuff, a lot of people may not realize that we’re borrowing equipment from other municipalities to help get us through. We got to do something and unfortunately we didn’t have a tax increase last year to the way it should have been and this is trying to catch up.”
Councillor Mike Schenk supported the budget as well, citing $1.3 million for road work of the $3 million capital projects as crucial.
“It’s not that we’re wasting taxpayer’s money,” said Schenk. “The money is spent wisely. It’s just that there’s always so much. There’s only so much we can do. Number one is to look after infrastructure. We have a building at 99 Advance that we have to finance for $5 million, you know what I mean? We have a lot of unfinanced capital. The sewage plant, that has to go ahead. If our municipality grows, we have to increase our capacity with the sewage plant.”
Pinnell Jr., who has long been an advocate for an aquatics facility, expressed his disappointment at the lack of support for the project.
“It is quite evident to me that you do not want to give any monies towards the (aquatics) project this year….we need to make a decision in this term of council what we’re going to be doing,” said Pinnell Jr. “With reviewing of the numbers it’s been said that the town can not afford an aquatics centre. By looking at the SPC, the debenture is going to be paid in full this year. We were paying $550,000, this year’s payment is $144,000 and some change. The total expenses for the SPC is $1.6 million. After revenue it’s $720,000. So almost $730,000 the taxpayer is paying for. That tells me we can’t afford the SPC.”
Before the draft budget could be voted on, Pinnell Jr. requested a recorded vote, which resulted in the 6-1 in favour result.
Using MPAC’s assessment data, the average residential property in Greater Napanee is considered to be assessed at $218,000.
The budget is expected to be officially adapted March 12.
-Before the draft budget could be presented, council had to take care of a couple of last minute budget items. The first was to approve a new condenser for the Strathcona Paper Centre, which they did. The second was to decide whether or not to enter into a four year contract extension with the Bay of Quinte Regional Marketing Board at a cost of $26,000 a year. Not wanting to commit to the full contract before hiring a new CAO to review the town’s marketing strategy, council adapted councillor Angela Hicks’ motion of exploring the idea of a one year contract with the marketing company with the option to lock in for the full four years after a review from town staff.