Burlington Council Finalizes Budget Focused on Essentials, Frontline Services & Preparing for Growth

Budget
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*Please see below a news release issued by the City of Burlington.Burlington, Ont. — Nov. 28, 2023 — At today’s Special Council Meeting, Burlington City Council finalized the 2024 budget. Next year’s budget is focused on essentials, front line services and preparing for growth.The City’s portion of the overall tax increase is 4.99%. When blended with Halton Region’s forecasted increase and no change to the Boards of Education, this results in an overall tax increase of 6.68%. This translates to $57.53 increase per $100,000 of urban residential assessment.The property tax bill is made up of three portions, the City of Burlington (50.5%), Halton Region (32.8%), and the Boards of Education (16.7%).The 2024 budget has been broken down into three categories:

  1. Essentials – This area covers projects and items the City of Burlington must address and/or have already committed to, such as cost of inflation, necessary capital projects and infrastructure renewal.
  2. Frontline Service – This area covers enhanced services that directly improves the quality of life of Burlington residents.
  3. Planning for Growth – This area plans for and prepares for the expected increase in population, our Community Investment Plan, and allow us to catch up and prepare for the future.

This was the first budget under the new provincially legislated Strong Mayor Powers. The Mayor proposed the budget for 2024. The budget was based on the 2024 Financial Needs and Multi-Year Forecast Reference Document prepared by staff earlier this year.Council brought 62 changes through amendment motions to modify the budget. Of those amendments, 27 were adopted into the budget. These were presented at Committee meetings on Nov. 21 and 23 and the Special Council Meeting on Nov. 28. The budget was finalized at the Special Council Meeting on Nov. 28.Key investments

  • Enhancing frontline service delivery with additional transit operators, firefighters, by-law licensing clerks and customer experience staff to respond to your concerns
  • Funding for 3 new community facilities – Skyway Community Centre, the newly renovated Mountainside pool and the former Robert Bateman High School
  • $88.6 million of capital investment in 2024 to keep our infrastructure assets like buildings, roads and parks in a state of good repair
  • Funding dedicated to future land and facility needs for our growing and changing community
  • Free all-day transit for Seniors
  • Support for our Community Planning Housing Initiative
  • Support to bring the city’s Information Technology (IT) infrastructure into the 21st century

For more information on the 2024 budget, visit burlington.ca/budget or getinvolvedburlington.ca/2024-budget.Burlington is a city where people, nature and businesses thrive. Sign up to learn more about Burlington at burlington.ca/subscribe and follow @CityBurlington on social media.Quick Facts:

  • Residents and business owners were asked to share their feedback through the 2024 Budget Survey. This feedback helped the City to understand how respondents prioritize and value City services. This survey took place during August and September 2023. The feedback received centred around concerns with tax affordability, reducing taxes and prioritizing services such as roads, infrastructure, climate change/environment and affordable housing.

Residents and business owners were also invited to share their input at the in-person Food for Feedback engagement event in September 2023.

  • Burlington is growing and changing. With over 254,000 people expected to live in Burlington by 2051, the City is planning for future population growth to ensure quality community services for residents. Over the next 25 years, the City of Burlington is going to grow in its urban areas.
  • In June 2023, the Ontario government announced it was expanding additional authorities and responsibilities to the mayors of 26 large and fast-growing municipalities, including Burlington. Under this new legislation, it is the responsibility of the Mayor to propose the budget. The new legislation became effective on July 1, 2023. Mayoral decisions made under this new provincial legislation are available to the public.

"We know these are difficult times for everyone with increased living and housing costs and Council had to make some difficult budget decisions. Working with each other and staff, while hearing from the community, we balanced the needs of the city with our current affordability crisis as best we could. At the end of the day, this is a Mayor and Council budget that focuses investments on essentials, frontline services and planning for future growth. It was created through a lot of hard work and learning through a new provincially-legislated budget process this year. It is our hope this budget sets us up for success in 2024 and for years to come in creating an inclusive, affordable, eco-friendly and caring community for all our neighbours. The 2024 Budget impacts people through the programs and services they receive every day in our city. Each time you have your road plowed, use a City park or trail, or cool off in a municipal pool or splash pad, you are using a City service and seeing your tax dollars at work. This budget continues to build on investments our community has asked for and needs and will only improve Burlington today and into the future." -- Burlington Mayor Marianne Meed Ward & Deputy Mayor for Strategy & Budgets Paul Sharman"The adoption of this budget gives much needed support to essential city projects, front line services and infrastructure. As this was our first time establishing a budget under the Strong Mayor Powers, I’m thankful for the work and dedication of City staff and the collaboration with the Mayor, Deputy Mayor for Strategy and Budgets and members of Council to support this new process. The City's mission continues to be to balance the needs of all residents both today and in the future while maintaining the high quality of services that residents enjoy." -- JoanFord, Chief Financial Officer, City of Burlington

ADDITIONAL BACKGROUND:

  • The 2024 Budget was deemed approved by Mayor Meed Ward on Nov. 28.
  • In 2024, as a result of new Provincial legislation, Mayors across Ontario had the added responsibility of presenting a budget for their municipalities. In Burlington, Council also had the responsibility to present proposed changes to the budget.
  • With many new changes to the budget process, what stayed the same, as in previous years, was having a budget reflective of the city’s and residents’ needs, proposed amendments from Council members, and multiple opportunities for the community to engage and provide their feedback. Burlington's budget process has always been subject to revisions and amendments, and public input – and that did not change this year.
  • Community Feedback:
    • Feedback from the community on the budget was taken through multiple touchpoints, including:
      • directly to Mayor and Council;
      • a Telephone Town Hall (with nearly 5,000 people participating);
      • online on the City’s ‘Get Involved’ webpage;
      • a statistically-valid community survey; and
      • multiple community drop-in sessions hosted by Ward Councillors.
    • Council has heard from thousands of residents during the 2024 budget deliberations, expressing concerns about affordability, inflation on basic items like groceries, and rising housing costs and interest rates. We have heard a range of perspectives about what the community would like us to do, from a zero tax rate increase or a tax cut, 3% tax increase up to 4 and 5% increase. We have also heard from residents supporting increased taxes.
    • The GetInvolved budget survey commissioned by the City showed 55% of residents support a cut to services to maintain current taxes, or a cut to services to reduce taxes.
      • Additionally, 91% of residents on the GetInvolved budget survey said that it was “somewhat important” or “important” to set aside funding to replace infrastructure, such as roads, to ensure they meet community needs now and into the future. The second part of the Mayor’s Direction responds to this feedback by separating out a dedicated infrastructure with a minimum 2% commitment each year.
    • Separately, the statistically valid community survey found that:
      • 57% of residents support increasing taxes to enhance services or to maintain services at current levels.
      • This survey is considered an accurate predictor of the majority of Burlington residents, 95% of the time, within a range of 3% either way.
    • We must consider and balance all this input, as well as the long-term financial sustainability of the city and all its services in preparing annual budgets, this one as well as future ones. We want residents to know we have heard them, and are working to respond to all the input we’ve received. The hope in providing the Mayor's Direction is to provide some predictability to staff and the community about future budgets, and respond to the request to keep the tax increases as low as possible.
    • The Mayor and Council thank those residents who provided specific suggestions on where to make cuts in the budget, helping Council know where any changes should be made.
  • City of Burlington 2024 Budget Key Investments:
    • Enhancing frontline service delivery with additional transit operators, firefighters, by-law licensing clerks and customer experience staff to respond to your concerns
    • Funding for three new community facilities – Skyway Community Centre, the newly renovated Mountainside pool and the former Robert Bateman High School
    • $88.6 million of capital investment in 2024 to keep our infrastructure assets like buildings, roads and parks in a state of good repair
    • Funding dedicated to future land and facility needs for our growing and changing community
    • Free all-day transit for seniors
    • Support for our Community Planning Housing Initiative
    • Support to bring the City’s IT infrastructure into the 21st century

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