Library Funding Causes a Stir - Budget Day #1

Today we have a special edition of our show as over the next few days we will be bringing you a little round up of the latest budget meetings as they go on including; The budget overview; Protective & Building services; Operations Services; Community Development & Library Services.

BUDGET OVERVIEW

In last night’s first meeting, CAO Ms. Helen Collier and Mr. Frederic Desnoyer presented an overview of the upcoming budget - explaining where the tax dollars go, some of the budgetary pressures the city is facing as well as setting out the draft Municipal Tax rate which is currently set at 4.09%.

Councilors Gramind and Lalonde asked whether, given the fluctuation of the current cost of houses, residents were at risk of paying more in tax but, Mr. Desnoyer explained that the amount needed to be collected by the city is distributed proportionally throughout the City.
This means that as long as the price of your home is changing at the same rate as others, such as your neighbor, it won’t really have that much of an effect. 

PROTECTIVE & BUILDING SERVICES 

Ms. Chantal Begin presented an overview of the Building Services department explaining that the city had, by September 2021, issued 225 new housing units this year, which is higher than it was this time last year with the City set to exceed the 320 from 2020 - good news as we continue to to face the current affordable housing crisis. 

Chief of Protective Services, Mr. Pierre Voisine took the council through some of the elements the department were in charge of throughout 2021 including flood preparedness, vaccine rollout as well as their obligations from the 2021 budget.

Mr. Voisine also had one capital project to present to the City, requesting funds to repair the “wear and tear” on one of their trucks, increasing its longevity....

OPERATIONS SERVICES

The administration staff took the council through the overview of the operational services in the City, with few clarifications required over what their plans are for the upcoming year, however the Capital Projects for that department are set to be presented this evening. 

COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT

Next up was Mr. Julian Lenhart speaking on the new community development department, created during the City’s administrative redesign which includes : Planning and engineering; Capital Projects; Economic Development ; Community Programming & Daycares.

Next year marks the first year of the City's new economic development plan as well as having a strong focus on the “return to normal” of cultural and recreational events - starting with the Christmas parade on the 5th and work towards a concert series at the optimist hall. 

Mme. Maurice Bouchard spoke of the local daycare services, including the operational review recently undertaken by Blackline Consulting following a big year for the department and some ambitious goals in 2022.

LIBRARY SERVICES

The final element of the evening was the Library Services, with Ms Catherina Rouse discussing some of the key elements from this year including the recent events for Truth and Reconciliation Day & Treaties week. 

It was an up and down year for the Library too with the pandemic forcing closures and reduction of services throughout the year. 

One of the big changes implemented by the Clarence-Rockland Public Library recently was the abolishment of user fees - a move that Ms Rouse said is becoming more and more common.

For the 2021 budget, the Library was asked to operate within their surplus, along with the Grant of around $700,000 - receiving no increase in their budget. Due to this, Ms. Rouse requested an increase of close to $60,000 for 2022 - a matter that seemed relatively contentious. 

Council will have the opportunity to go over the elements they heard last night at the start of this evening meeting and see whether or not after a night’s sleep there is anything they would like to re-discuss.

The Council’s goal is to reduce the local tax rate to a figure within the 2-3% range but, as these meetings are technically “Committee of the Whole '' meetings, changes can be made up until the next Regular Meeting where the city will approve the 2022 budget.