CONNOR LUCZKA, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
The 2025 draft budget, with the approved expansions and removals council has made, is currently sitting at a tax rate increase of 6.53 per cent – but there is still much more work to be done before any increase is finalized.
Both Mayor Martin Ritsma and Coun. Mark Hunter, who serves as chair of the finance and labour committee that does preliminary work before council approves the budget, said they had hoped to bring the rate increase “south of five per cent,” and reiterated that comment at the most recent budget meeting on Dec. 9.
To get there now would take considerable cuts to services – a tall order according to Coun. Lesley Biehn.
“We need six people to agree on which services to cut,” Biehn said. “And from everything that I've seen going through the budget and all the questions I've been asking over this last month, I don't think there is a single thing that we will cut or anybody would be willing to cut.
“Is there any services that could be presented tonight that anyone has a desire to cut? Because if that's the case, I'll go and look in that section, and I'll work tirelessly to try and save money in that section on those services. But I need to know where would people even be willing to cut because I see zero appetite to cut anything.”
Coun. Cody Sebben disagreed that the only option to reduce the increase was to look at service cuts. He wanted to send the budget back to staff to relook at line items, something he has suggested each year of this term of council. As in prior years, that sentiment was not shared.
“I think we have this conversation every year,” Coun. Jo-Dee Burbach said. “We're the ones who need to look at what services we provide. We can't ask staff to do that or to say to them, ‘Well, just find a better way to do more with less.’ I don't think it's possible. I really don't. I agree with Coun. Hunter that if we want to make a difference with this budget, we have to cut and that's what Coun. Biehn was talking about. It's really hard. We don't want to cut anything and we don't want to increase taxes. That's the bottom line.”
One of the areas both Hunter and Burbach thought would be a place to cut was the city’s community grants program. Each year, hundreds of thousands of dollars are awarded by the city to the various organizations that apply for funding under strict guidelines to use that money for the community.
Past recipients have been L’Arche Stratford, Gallery Stratford and Stratford Summer Music among other notable organizations.
In a final amended version of the motion, Burbach moved to reduce the spending in the grant program by $325,000, which would bring the total investment by the city in 2025 to $871,870, and to specifically halve the city’s 2025 contribution to the Stratford General Hospital Foundation’s $30-million In Our Hands capital campaign, to which the city has previously pledged a total of $5 million.
Sebben voted against the motion, arguing there are other line items that could be cut and have a greater impact on the tax levy with less of an impact on the community. There are many community organizations that rely on the city’s funding to do the annual work they always do, he said.
Likewise, reducing the hospital spending was a “non-starter” for the mayor. He pointed out the campaign is going towards a new cancer clinic and equipment that is not funded by the province.
Though the motion didn’t pass, Hunter said it was “no sour grapes,” reiterating what Sebben had said about the groups doing good work for the city and the community – just that more and more is expected of municipalities as they seemingly get less and less.
“The mayor is correct that this funds (hospital) equipment that the province doesn't fund and here we are talking about what the province isn’t taking care of again,” Hunter said. “For everything to fall on the shoulders of the municipality, it's getting harder and harder for us to have budgets that our residents can live with.”
Council will meet again at the committee level in the new year to resume budget talks. The committee already met for three marathon meetings on Nov. 28, Dec. 3 and the most recent meeting on Dec. 9. They went through the requested operating budgets of each department, line by line, the capital forecast for the city and the expansion requests the city’s directors have put forward.
Of the 27 expansion requests suggested, 15 of which were new staff positions, 17 have been approved so far, including:
• A facilities plumber position, $141,013
• A vehicle for the plumber position, $96,650
• A facilities electrician position, $141,013
• A vehicle for the electrician position, $96,650
• A supervisor of policy and placemaking position, $144,542
• Changing six part-time recreation and facility operators to permanent existing positions, $125,973.
• A new Ontario Works caseworker position, $106,790
• A community emergency management coordinator (CEMC) training exercise, $50,000
• A new bylaw enforcement officer position, $113,323
• Changing the water meter technician to an existing position, $106,445
• A supervisor of bylaw position, $129,961
• A supervisor of financial services, $128,829
• Two new vehicles for bylaw staff, $110,300
A number of expansions were also approved but will not affect this year’s tax levy. The Grand Trunk project specialists positions ($200,000), an additional mobility bus ($150,000) and electronic message board trailers ($55,000) were approved and funded through reserve funds. Additionally, many of the approved expansions were approved with certain grants and revenues gapping the actual impact on this year’s levy – though not all are guaranteed for next year.
Additionally, many of the expansions were approved with the understanding that the cost will be mitigated through the savings or revenue they accrue. The new plumber and electrician positions, for example, would likely save the municipality on contracting services moving forward.
The Community Improvement Plan expansion, priced at $150,000, was also approved but council voted to direct funds from Municipal Accommodation Tax (MAT) revenues toward the plan. Likewise, council approved using an additional $150,000 from the MAT reserve to fund Destination Stratford’s Lights On project as included in the expansion requests and the operating budget.
The Parks and Recreation Master Plan, priced at $80,000, was deferred to the 2026 budget.
A number of referrals were also requested and await committee approval. For instance, the biggest expansion request, the Human Resources Information System (HRIS) priced at $425,000, was sent back to staff to see if more economical options were available.
Nearing the end of the most recent deliberations, McCabe suggested using $750,000 from the tax-stabilization reserve to the budget to bring down the levy impact, something done last year.
Karmen Krueger, treasurer and director of corporate services, said there was already a 50 per cent cut in transfers to reserves in the draft budget and any further reduction to reserves would have significant impacts to services being provided by the city down the line.
To see any lasting effects on the levy, she said council would have to look at permanent changes to service levels.
McCabe’s motion was defeated, however Clerk Tatiana Dafoe said the motion may be reintroduced at the council level before the draft budget would finally be approved.
“My biggest challenge thus far in the budget really hasn't been capital or operating. It has been the amount of expansion that we've asked for and have approved,” Ritsma said at the end of deliberations. “Whether that's going to generate better service, it's still going to be an increase to our tax levy … and I'm not saying those expansion pieces are not important, but I just know for the ratepayers, when they look at 12 new positions in the City of Stratford, they might say, ‘Wow, I'm paying for that.’
“We've had a long, I believe, productive meeting,” Ritsma went on to say just before council adjourned for the evening and the year. “I think we still have some work to do.”
Though council has approved a number of expansions and cuts, the budget is still in its draft form. At any point during the deliberation stage, up to when the final budget bylaw is passed, changes can be made.
For the full 2025 draft budget including details on the expansion requests, visit the budget document at https://tinyurl.com/3jm3mcre.
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