Dysart nearly ready to pass 2017 budget

By Angelica Ingram

Published Feb.  14, 2017

 

The municipality of Dysart is getting close to approving their 2017 budget following a special meeting of council held on Feb. 9.
Councillors are looking at a 5.87 per cent increase on the levy, which will equate to a residential tax rate of $261.89 per $100,000 of assessment, an increase of $23.71 from 2016.
The commercial rate will be $388.31 per $100,000 assessment, an increase of $21.54 from last year, while the industrial rate will total $449.95 per $100,000, an increase of $24.95 from 2016.
“Tax dollars are now supporting 51 per cent of our expenditures,” said municipal treasurer Barbara Swannell.
Taxation dollars equate to close to $8 million, according to Swannell. Other sources of revenue include grants and payments in-lieu.

Swannell presented councillors with a second draft of the budget, which included an additional $250,000 in revenues compared to the first draft. The total revenue amount projected for 2017 is $15,440,126.
This year’s budget includes debt repayment of $527,000. The municipality has secured debt to finance infrastructure and capital costs. The 2017 budget sees some capital projects included that were deferred from 2016.

The draft budget is projecting a reserve balance of nearly $2.5 million at the end of 2017, according to Swannell.
“The 2017 budget reserves will decrease $580,000 (net) to fund capital, infrastructure and maintenance projects,” the treasurer told councillors.
Reserves have been slowly decreasing since 2014, but remain on par with amounts spanning the past five years.
The Ontario Municipal Partnership Fund grant has increased by $131,500 compared to last year.
The largest portion of the 2017 budget is for transportation services, with nearly $4.6 million set aside for the department.
Protective services, which includes OPP costs, comes in at nearly $3.2 million. The OPP billing increased by $291,000 compared to 2016. The OPP portion now equates to approximately $2.2 million.
Environmental services and recreation and culture both collect about $2.6 million of the total budget. Other departments include general government, planning, social services and health services.
Dysart council expects to pass the budget in March.