Interview with the Warden - Nov 14th 2024

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Thursday, 14 November 2024 11:23

Oxford County Council had its first look at a draft budget for 2025 yesterday and decided to not commit to the province's growth numbers.

OXFORD COUNTY - Oxford County Council is not committing to the growth numbers provided by the Ford Government.

The province provides population projections to municipalities each year, so municipalities can prepare for those numbers in plans for the future.

But Warden Marcus Ryan brought forward a motion during yesterday's meeting asking council to not support the numbers provided by the province without increased support and funding.

"Toronto and Ottawa in the last year got a 'new deal' from the province where the province gives them tens of millions of dollars of provincial tax dollars, which we all pay, to deliver municipal services to handle the growth pressure they have. Now to be clear, Oxford is not experiencing the same growth pressure that Toronto and Ottawa are, but on our own scale we are."

Warden Ryan is now going to write a letter to Premier Doug Ford, informing him that Oxford will come up with its own growth projections, calculate how much the province's growth projections will cost, and hopefully start a conversation.

The province's numbers are based on growth projections for the population of Canada and the population of Ontario.

Oxford County Council also had its first look at the Draft Business Plan and Budget for 2025 during yesterday's meeting.

The proposed budget is $422 million, including a $291 million operating budget and a $131 million capital plan. It also had a proposed levy of $98.8 million when it was presented to council yesterday, which means the average homeowner would have spent $137 extra on the county's portion of their tax bill each year.

Warden Ryan asked council to consider getting rid of the development charge exemption for industries to bring the proposed levy down about 4 percent.

The development charge exemption was introduced earlier this year in hopes of bringing more industries to Oxford County. Industries usually have to pay for the new municipal services they require (ex: water and wastewater) when they build a factory in a community. That factory would pay a higher property tax rate once it's up and running.

But Warden Ryan doesn't think there was enough analysis done before the County introduced this exemption.

"Part of the deal is, don't worry because later on the big factory will pay so much taxes that you won't pay as much. I don't think we really know that that's necessarily the case right now and I think a lot of the industrial growth is going to come anyway with the geographical location of Oxford County with Highway 401 and Highway 403."

Council approved the elimination of the development charge exemption, which means the average homeowner is now looking at an increase of $86 on their tax bill each year, instead of the $137 increase.

Further changes could still be made to the draft budget during the special meetings on November 20th and November 21st, before it's brought back to council for final approval on December 11th.

During his interview with Dan and Marcie this morning, Warden Ryan also answered a question from a listener about affordable housing not being affordable to the average resident.

You can listen to the full interview below: