Surprise! It’s an additional meeting of city council that you didn’t know was going to happen when the month began. Per the request of council themselves, staff have prepared a list of recommendations about further cuts to the 2024-2027 multiyear budget to get the tax burden further down and thus get closer to something more affordable for Guelph residents. Still, will there be an appetite to enact any of the options?
NOTE #1: Since this is a workshop meeting of council, there will be no delegations or correspondences.
NOTE #2: In addition to meeting in-person, this meeting will also be live-streamed on the City of Guelph’s website here.
2024-2027 Multi-Year Budget Workshop – At the budget presentation meeting on November 7, council approved a recommendation to have an additional budget meeting, a workshop, to look at further options to cut the next year’s budget increase and bring down the increased tax levy for rate payers. This is that meeting.
First, the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC) has released their assessment for next year, so there’s 0.08 per cent reduction right there. That was easy. Less easy though are some of the other choices council has to make. First, staff recommends that council review new investments, and there’s a function on the budget board that shows what those investments are and how much they cost.
As for local boards and shared services, the good news is that Wellington County has revised their projections for homelessness and housing support for 2024 and it’s been brought down by about 0.34 per cent, but the bad news is that there’s presently no changes for 2025. The City heard back from the Elliott and Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health and seems like they’re unable to find further cuts in their budgets right now without compromising services.
Staff also suggest possibly cutting the transfers to 100 per cent Renewable reserves as a way to save money, though council will have to determine what projects that they want to defer and/or cancel (save for the new library and South End Community Centre where construction is underway). Council can also slow the pace of growth, but that’s easier said than done due to the demand for tight timelines and the goal of building 2,000 new units per year till 2031.
Last, but certainly not least, there are proposed cuts to the current levels of service, but staff emphasize that this should be an option of last resort. Also, if there’s a desire to ratchet down on asset management that may come potential liability impacts on the City that would require further discussion in closed session to get solicitor advice.
Individual councillors will also present their intentions for motions on budget decision day, which is exact one week to the day for this meeting on Wednesday November 29 at 9 am.
Guelph Politico 