Burlington Council Approves 2020 Budget Including Investments in Transit, Trees, and Green Infrastructure
This year, City staff and your Burlington Council opted to have our 2020 capital and operating budget discussions together. After budget committee meetings on Dec. 10 and 12, and Council meetings on Dec. 16 and 19, we approved a $174.4-million operating budget with a city-portion tax increase of 3.99%. Combined with tax increases from Halton Region and the boards of education, the overall tax increase is 2.44% or $19.34 per $100,000 of a home's current value assessment. The total annual increase to property taxes for a home assessed at $500,000 is $96.70.Here are the minutes from the Dec. 10/12 Committee of the Whole - Budget meetings and the Dec. 16 and 19 Council meetings, respectively: Post-Meeting Minutes - Committee of the Whole - Budget_Dec10_2019 / Post-Meeting Minutes - Regular Meeting of Council_Dec16_19_2019.A full budget breakdown is further down in this post.Here is the main budget motion that was approved by a 6-1 Council vote on Thursday, Dec. 19:
- Approve the 2020 operating budget including any budget amendments approved by the Committee of the Whole - Budget to be applied against the proposed next tax levy amount of $174,435,179; and
- Approve the 2020 capital budget for the City of Burlington, with a gross amount of $85,966551 with a debenture requirement of $7,613,145, and the 2021-209 capital forecast with a gross amount of $723,878,943 with a debenture requirement of $47,592,200 as outlined in report F-46-19 and as amended by the Committee of the Whole - Budget; and
- Administer the debenture in the amount of $6,113,145 in 2020 as tax supported debt; and
- Administer the debenture in the amount of $1,500,000 in 2020 as special circumstances debt; and
- Declare that, in accordance with sis. 5(1)5 of the Development Charges Act, 1997 and s. 5 of Ontario Regulation 82/98, it is Council's clear intention that the excess capacity provided by the above-referenced works will be paid for by future development charges.
To change the format of my posts a little and before I give you a breakdown outlining what you'll be getting as Burlington residents for your tax dollars from the 2020 budget, I will start with My Take on the budget and budget discussions below.MY TAKE:I commend Council on our work on this and our City staff who did great work for us and on this budget. I think it positioned us well to have our capital and operating budget discussions together and have that process streamlined. Council and our community should be proud of this budget that focuses on transit, trees, and green infrastructure, among other needs. We had to whittle down requests from Council that would have put us at a 7.5% city-tax increase if they had all been approved. We aimed for enhancing services, renewing aging infrastructure and responding to the needs of a growing community, while keeping your pocketbooks in mind. We made some tough, but strategic decisions for the 2020 budget, and the priorities reflect those of our community.
“The 2020 budget focuses on providing strategic investments aligned to the City’s four-year work plan, Vision to Focus, and Burlington’s 25-year Strategic Plan. At the same time, it provides investments to ensure the continued delivery of high-quality services, renewal of Burlington’s aging infrastructure, and funding for new community programs and initiatives.” — Joan Ford, Chief Financial Officer, City of Burlington
2020 BUDGET BREAKDOWNTo view the online version of the City of Burlington's 2020 Budget Book, please click this link: COB_2020_Budget_Book. Here is the staff report related to the budget as well: F-46-19-2 Approval of 2020 operating and capital budgets.The approved City tax increase of 3.99% includes:
| Investments to maintain City services | 1.33% to ensure the continued delivery of high-quality services |
| Investments in infrastructure renewal | 1.25% dedicated to the renewal of existing city infrastructure. Major capital projects in 2020 include:
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| Investments to address climate change impacts | 0.82% dedicated to assets and initiatives that support sustainable infrastructure and a resilient environment, including:
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| Investments to address risk management and other corporate priorities | 0.59% dedicated to enhancing customer service and supporting the implementation of Burlington City Council’s four-year work plan, Vision to Focus, including:
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In our budget discussions this year, we grouped Council's Budget Action Requests (BARs - motions/amendments/staff directions for the budget) into five groups: green initiatives, service enhancements, one-time funding and staff directions (due to time-constraints, Council voted to defer approval of the staff directions to committee in January 2020).Below are the BARs that Council approved, but if you want to see all of them, please click this link: F-46-19-2 Appendix A 2020 BAR Forms - consolidated.GREEN INITIATIVES:
| COUNCIL MEMBER | SERVICE | ITEM/PROJECT | PROPOSED AMENDMENT | COST |
| Ward 4 Councillor Shawna Stolte | Tree Management | City-wide Private Tree Bylaw | Add the proposed city-wide Private Tree Bylaw (Option No. 4) | $60,000 |
| Ward 4 Councillor Shawna Stolte | Provision to Capital | Vehicles and Charging Stations | Add funding for 3 electric vehicles and charging stations. | $125,000 |
| Ward 4 Councillor Shawna Stolte / Ward 5 Councillor Paul Sharman | Tree Management | Increase Urban Canopy / Tree-planting initiatives | Increase tree-planting program on public and private property supported by a tree initiative | $100,000 |
| Mayor Marianne Meed Ward | Conventional Transit | Free Transit | Support for free transit for children aged 12 and under | $42,250 |
| Ward 5 Councillor Paul Sharman | Provision to Capital | Harvester Road Sidewalk | Add sidewalk on one side of Century Drive to connect South Service Road by Boehringer Ingelheim to Harvester Road & Appleby GO station conditional to sidewalk warrant | $220,000(one-time funding) |
| Ward 4 Councillor Shawna Stolte | Provision to Capital | Pedestrian/Cyclist Safety | Add funding for additional pedestrian crossing safety tools (e.g. Solar Ped "X" Signs) | $30,000 |
| Ward 3 Councillor Rory Nisan | Provision to Capital | Level 3 Chargers for EVs | Add one level 3 charger to downtown Burlington, using funds originally meant to add several level 2 chargers in downtown | $0 |
| Ward 3 Councillor Rory Nisan | Provision to Capital | EV Charging Stations | 10 EV charging stations 92 plugs at each station) to be installed at City Community Centres, Arenas and Pools, complemented with a staff report | $20,000(on-going capital funding in the base budget)&$180,000(one-time funding) |
| Ward 3 Councillor Rory Nisan | Environment and Energy | Additional FTE for Climate Action Plan | 1 full-time employee to work on the initiatives related to the Climate Action Plan | $100,000 |
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| COUNCIL MEMBER | SERVICE | ITEM/PROJECT | PROPOSED AMENDMENT | COST |
| Ward 5 Councillor Paul Sharman | Parks and Open Space Maintenance | City Parks/Winter Maintenance | 2 additional staff for hardscaping/softscaping horticultural enhancements and winter maintenance city-wide | $160,204 |
SERVICE ENHANCEMENTS:
| COUNCIL MEMBER | SERVICE | ITEM/PROJECT | PROPOSED AMENDMENT | COST |
| Mayor Marianne Meed Ward | Road Maintenance | Winter Sidewalk Maintenance | Conversion of temporary staffing to create 2 additional FTE for winter maintenance | $160,000 |
| Mayor Marianne Meed Ward | Office of the Mayor | Key to the City Program | Key to the City program to fund up to 4 keys per year | $3,200 |
ONE-TIME FUNDING:
| COUNCIL MEMBER | SERVICE | ITEM/PROJECT | PROPOSED AMENDMENT | COST |
| Ward 2 Councillor Lisa Kearns | Arts and Culture | Sound of Music (festival) | One-time funding for Sound of Music to enhance year-round music programs in the community (subject to approval of Municipal Accommodation Tax) | $40,907 |
| Ward 4 Councillor Shawna Stolte | Recreation | Audio Induction Loop System for the Seniors' Centre | Add one-time funding to increase accessibility at the Seniors' Centre for key demographic (hearing assistance) | $30,000 |
PROPOSED STAFF DIRECTIONS:A couple of the staff directions from Council were time-sensitive and needed to be approved before January 2020, they are included below. To view all of Council's budget-related staff directions, please click this link: F-46-19-2 Appendix B - staff directions.Staff direction put forward by Ward 4 Councillor Shawna Stolte:
- Amend the approval of the 2020 budget (F-46-19-2) recommendation from the December 10 and 12, 2019 Committee of the Whole - Budget meeting by adding the following paragraphs to the end of the recommendation:
- Direct the Executive Director of Strategy, Risk and Accountability to review options and appropriate criteria necessary to create a new Reserve Fund (“Green Fund”) for the purpose of allocating dollars specifically focused on Environmental Initiatives. This review will also include a tally of all expenditures in the approved 2020 Budget that could be considered as Environmental Initiatives, as a starting point for Councils consideration of allocations to this new Green Reserve Fund. Staff shall report back to the Corporate Services, Strategy, Risk and Accountability Committee by end of Q1 2020 with this information, options and recommendations.
Staff direction put forward by Ward 2 Councillor Lisa Kearns:
- Amend the approval of the 2020 budget (F-46-19-2) recommendation from the December 10 and 12, 2019 Committee of the Whole - Budget meeting by adding the following paragraph to the end of the recommendation:
- Direct the Chief Financial Officer to review the current value assessment and taxation changes for the Downtown Business Improvement Area (BIA) properties and consult with the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC) and the Region of Halton regarding available tax policy initiatives and report back to Council with the results of the review in Q1 2020.
Both of the councillors' staff direction were unanimously carried by Council.LINKS AND RESOURCES:
- For more information about Burlington’s 2020 budget, visit burlington.ca/budget
- Learn more about Burlington’s Senior Property Tax Rebate
— Mayor Marianne Meed Ward--*Posted by John Bkila, Mayor's Media and Digital Communications Specialist.