​Kincardine whittles 2025 budget back to 8% tax-rate increase

Kincardine council spent another five laborious hours, Monday, trying to whittle its 2025 budget back to an eight-per-cent tax-rate increase.

Due to the closed roads, the budget talks switched to on-line, with council and staff meeting over Zoom. All of council was present except councillors Jennifer Prenger and Amanda Steinhoff-Gray.

As the virtual meeting was getting under way, councillor Bill Stewart questioned whether council had considered rescheduling the meeting.

“I don’t find this as effective as face-to-face,” he said.

Mayor Kenneth Craig said there were numerous scheduling conflicts, so the decision was made to proceed and make as much progress as possible on-line.

“But the final budget approval should be done at a face-to-face meeting,” said Stewart, “not on Zoom.”

Council began by discussing motions pertaining to capital projects, including reconsideration of the Broadway multi-use path which was deferred Jan. 13; and Saugeen Mobility and Regional Transit (SMART) enhanced services.

During debate of the Broadway path, councillor Stellina Williams, who brought the motion forward, said that things were added during the last discussion that complicated the issue. Plus, there have been public concerns about pedestrian safety along that stretch of roadway.

Stewart said he understood that staff had said at the last meeting that it was safe. Plus, the project was deferred until the municipality finds out where the new high school will be located, he said.

“So, is staff wrong?” he said. “Is this path not safe?”

Adam Weishar, director of infrastructure and development, said the safety issue was about the surface material of the path, which staff believes is safe. However, placing a concrete path along there is not going to address all the safety concerns, he said.

The motion to reconsider this project was defeated.

As to the SMART service, the motion was to include $200,000 in the 2025 operating budget for enhanced accessible transportation services in the municipality, funded from the tax rate.

Council spun in circles trying to understand this proposal which actually included $230,000 in costs, with an expected $30,000 in ridership revenue.

The proposal was for Kincardine to purchase a nine-passenger van to be operated by SMART and then ownership would transfer to the municipality after one year.

Councillor Mike Hinchberger said this would return the service to pre-COVID-19 pandemic usage, including evenings and weekends.

Treasurer Roxana Baumann cautioned council that if the municipality does not retain ownership of the vehicle, it is not a municipal asset and council should not spend reserve funds to purchase it.

However, she said it could be purchased through a reserve fund but the cost would have to flow through the operating budget. After the one-year trial period, it could be funded through the capital budget.

“I’m still confused about the numbers and ownership,” said Stewart. “I don’t want us to own a van we don’t operate; there are liability issues there. Does the $30,000 in revenue come back to us? There are a lot of questions about this. It’s too premature to fund it, and we can’t use reserves on a van we don’t own.”

Council agreed to defer this to the next budget meeting in February.



Kincardine council and staff meet Monday, over Zoom, to discuss the 2025 budget

Several other capital projects were debated, as well as changes to the operating budget.

Council agreed to add $80,000 for a part-time community development position and programming costs, to assist the manager of strategic initiatives, creating a welcoming, inclusive and accessible community. Plus a voters’ list clerk, at a cost of $11,000, funded from the election reserve.

It was also agreed to waive the fees for outdoor patios in downtown Kincardine, with $6,500 in revenue removed from the budget.

In addition, council agreed to include up to $18,000 for planning and engineering services for the proposed affordable housing project at 705 Princes Street in the Town of Kincardine. This will be funded from the affordable housing reserve fund.

Stewart did not support this additional funding for the 705 Princes Street project.

“I worry about this one a lot,” he said. “We’re putting the cart before the horse. We’ve not seen a new lease with Bruce Power for this property. I see a lot of pitfalls here.”

Hinchberger called a point of order and said the motion was to discuss the funding, not the project.

The motion was approved, 4-1. In a recorded vote, Hinchberger, Craig, deputy mayor Andrea Clarke, and councillor Rory Cavanagh voted in favour, while Stewart voted against. Councillors Beth Blackwell and Stellina Williams declared a conflict of interest.

And finally, council agreed to put the 2024 Westario Power dividend of $54,000 toward this year’s operating expenses.

This brought the proposed tax-rate increase to 8.07 per cent which equates to $194.61 for an average residential assessment of $275,000. The blended tax-rate increase, with the Bruce County levy and education tax included, is 4.62 per cent.

The municipality expects to wrap up budget talks at the Feb. 12 council meeting, with a draft budget bylaw coming to the Feb. 26 meeting.



The tote board at the end of the Kincardine budget meeting, Monday afternoon