2021 budget process is well underway. Consultation in different ways is now being sollicted: there is a survey, your ideas are requested, attend virtual public consultation on January 20. Go to our digital community engagement platform speaking.king to see & read the budget binder, to take the survey etc. Here is the press release announcing the initiative.
The draft budget proposes an increase of 1.13% versus 2020. (Recall that in recognition of the financial impact of COVID Council directed Staff to bring a budget as close to zero as possible.) There have been some tough choices made. e.g. the 10 year paving strategy revealed that the current policy of annually adding $2.5 million from the operating budget to capital is not adequate for getting our whole road network to standard within the next 10 years; hence there is risk that roads will deteriorate and fall below acceptable condition. The 2021 budget does not increase the funds to capital. Its vital that we make progress on our goal of reducing emissions (i.e. greenhouse gases); accordingly hiring a climate change co-ordintaor is necessary. At this stage I need more information to be fully supportive and will be asking questions over the next couple weeks.
Finally: the budget binder can be intimidating given its 280 pages. Before you give up:
- last 40 pages, starting page 238 is miscellaneous fees & charges. These were approved Dec. 14.
- corporate strategic plan is first 28 pages
- budget begins page 28; throughout there is good information about what the various department do.
- page 28 there is table of contents so you can focus on areas of interest.
Property taxes are far to high in king. Period. It is a topic I hear from neighbours all the time. With the tax base growing and property assessment going through the roof there is absolutely no reason that property taxes should be increasing. You will respond our mill rate is in the middle of the pack yet ignore property values are by far the highest in the region. This leaves residents paying 4000 dollar more per household than any other region around us. king did not fare well in the Fraser report on municipal finances. Per person we pay the most and king is a big spender per capita as well.
https://torontostoreys.com/gta-cities-highest-lowest-property-taxes/
https://www.fraserinstitute.org/sites/default/files/comparing-municipal-finances-in-the-greater-toronto-and-hamilton-area.pdf
I also noted that in kingscross municipal services are lacking. Not that we want some of these things but roads are terrible, so is snow removal, no curbs, no sidewalks, no street lights ( the ones we have are all leaning) no water, no sewer, our public green spaces (roundabout etc) are poorly maintained, culverts and road shoulders are in terrible condition, bylaw enforcement is non existent.
Just food for thought
Hi Mike, I appreciate the links that you provided; valuable to have outside resources and will look at. My first response about our taxes is not to say that we are “in the middle of the pact.” What I do say is that there is the challenge of King being 99% in GB, 97% ORM which means that there are significant restrictions on what can be done on the land i.e. industrial/commercial is limited outside the 3 villages and even within the urban areas GB & ORMCP creates restrictions. Our tax base is very dependent on residential. Furthermore providing services across the municpaltiy including 300+km of roads costs.
Not totally clear to me what are the complaints about which you would like action vs the statements about the “reality” of Kingscross infrastructure e.g. no sidewalks. There was consultation about many of the infrastructure items, you identified, as strategies were developed this past CY e.g. master transportation plan, active transportation, 10 year paving strategy. Your comment about bylaw enforcement is not fair. I know there have been issues in Kingscross which Bylaw has addressed; complainants are not always sastisfied but not accurate to say there is no enforcement. Please do report maintenance complaints to serviceking@king.ca; if you don’t get the feedback that such will be addressed in a timely way let me know.