Approved 2020 Budget Guideline

At its meeting on June 24, 2019, City Council approved the following directions for the drafting of the 2020 Budget:

• That the Draft 2020 Operating Budget reflect an estimated 1.75% all-inclusive (Municipal, Education, Sanitary Sewer Surcharge) increase for general Operating Budget impacts.
• That the Draft 2020 Operating Budget reflect an additional 0.59% all-inclusive budget provision for support to the capital program comprised of:

1. A budget provision of $620,000 (0.36%) for Stormwater Protection,
2. An increase in the Sewer Surcharge rate to provide the equivalent of $350,000 (0.23%) in Sanitary Sewer revenues, and

• That the revised Tax Ratio Reduction Program continues for the 2020 Draft Budget and reflects reductions:

1. to the Commercial and Industrial Class Tax Ratios but not the Multiresidential Class, and
2. at the reduced rate established through the 2016 Budget process.

• That the increase in the Police Services portion of the draft 2020 Operating Budget reflect no more than the Operating portion of Net Tax Levy increase (estimated to be 2.78%), and any increase in the net Police Services budget beyond the estimated Operating Portion of the Net Tax Levy increase be addressed by Council as part of the detailed 2020 Budget deliberations to occur in November of 2019.
• That Council commit, in principle, to leveraging the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program federal and provincial funding, subject to annual budget approvals, by funding the municipal share of the projects estimated to be approximately $22 million over the next eight years, or an average of $2.75 million per year, to maximize the available grants; and
• Unless new, sustainable funding becomes available from another level of government or outside source, no new services are to be added to our municipal tax base for the 2020 budget.