It was a lengthy process, but Halton Hills Council has managed to make some minor cuts to next year’s proposed budget.
Following two days of budget meetings this week, council ultimately reduced next year’s potential property tax hike from the 9.14 per cent proposed in the mayor’s budget to 9.01 per cent on the Town portion of the tax bill.
This would equate to an additional $39.83 per $100,000 of the assessed value of your home.
In addition to the Town, local residents pay taxes to Halton Region, which is now considering a higher tax increase than expected for next year (due to the police budget) at 5.99 per cent, and the school boards, which are forecasting a 0 per cent increase.
When you combine the Town, Region and school boards together, Halton Hills residents could be looking at an overall 6.46 per cent jump on their property tax bill in 2025, or an additional $57.91 per $100,000 of the assessed value of their home.
So on an average home with an assessed value of $600,000, this works out to an extra $347.46 in property taxes.
But the budget process isn’t over yet.
Under the ‘strong mayor’ powers, the provincial government is mandating a new procedure whereby Mayor Ann Lawlor can accept or veto any changes council made to the budget, with a deadline of Friday (Dec. 6).
If Lawlor doesn’t veto any amendments, the Town budget is deemed adopted as of Dec. 6. If she does veto an amendment, council has 10 days to override it with a two-thirds majority of councillors.
The mayor’s budget cut five new positions that were initially proposed in the staff-recommended operating budget, and council spent a lot of time Tuesday going over other potential new hires to see if more reductions could be made.
While Councillor Jason Brass put forward a motion to implement a hiring freeze on any new positions that have a budget impact over $30,000 that aren’t being funded by reserves, council voted against this and instead looked through some positions individually.
Council ultimately voted in favour of cutting facility maintenance and asset management co-ordinator positions, along with a landscape architect.
The local politicians also supported putting $315,000 back into a special fire services levy to bring it up to $630,000. The mayor’s budget had proposed phasing of the new levy over two years instead of one.
On the capital budget side, council approved a motion to add $50,000 for leash-free park revitalization, which will be funded by reserves.
The most contentious moment of the meeting came when Councillors Joseph Racinsky and D’Arcy Keene proposed axing $75,000 that would pay a consultant for phase three of implementing the Town’s equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) action plan.
Keene characterized the equity component of the initiative as “terrible.”
“I call it a cancer on society; this is my opinion, you can disagree,” he said.
“It’s an attack on the foundational nature of our basic freedom of equality in society. It’s an attempt to level the playing field by having other people make decisions about who deserves special treatment and who doesn’t get special treatment, and it never works out well.”
He continued, “People in my community are very concerned about this and some of them are quite frankly scared. They’re worried that they or their kids are going to be excluded from the right to apply for jobs. I’m going to make a personal effort to get this Town out of the DEI business as much as possible, and we can start by not funding $75,000.”
Keene’s commentary didn’t sit well with Councillor Clark Somerville.
“It’s pretty easy for the middle-aged white guy to sit around the table and say everything is great, Councillor Keene. That is just unbelievable, what I just heard you spout off,” he said before Mayor Lawlor interjected.
“Councillor Somerville, I would ask you to keep your remarks to policy issues and do not refer in a personal way to any other member of council,” she said.
Somerville countered that “they were asinine statements that need to be addressed.”
“Councillor, that’s a personal opinion,” replied Lawlor. “Would you please refer to the policy we’re discussing?”
Somerville went on to stress the importance of ensuring that the town is more inclusive - a sentiment echoed by Councillor Jane Fogal.
She spoke about a council workshop that educated her and others around the table about the importance of EDI.
“Equity is not terrible. Equity is great, and it’s not a cancer,” Fogal said. “We want everybody to have an opportunity to lead their best life here in our town.”
She noted she agrees with Lawlor that councillors shouldn’t make personal comments about each other, but rather challenge the things that are said.
“It just makes me more determined to support EDI when I hear those comments,” Fogal said.
The motion for the $75,000 EDI action plan cut was not approved by council.