On Monday, January 25, Council received the 2016 Operating Budget presentation from Treasurer Cari Pupo. The presentation indicated this year’s budget to be $11.06 million, an increase from 2015 of just under $1 million.
According to the report, the average residential assessment rose by $6,385 to $309,200, a 2.11% increase. The average tax levy will increase by 7.74%, or $107 per year.
Much of the report focused on the potential $37 million Community Centre.
“We aligned all our capital projects with the build of the Pelham Community Centre, possibly starting in 2016,” said Pupo. “[The other projects] have just been pushed farther out into the years …which allows debt repayment room to open up so that we can fund the proposed Centre over the next four years.”
“The best way to do that,” she continued, “so that there’s not an increase in one year when you take out the full $37 million, I’m proposing that we debenture $5 million this year, and then we would debenture an additional $10-15 million in 2017, another big chunk in 2018, and the small runoff area in 2019.”
Pupo further stated that this would allow the levy increase to be ‘massaged’ over the next four years, rather than one big increase this year.
According to Pupo, the facility will cost the taxpayer, on average, around $212 per year over 35 years, or $7500. This figure did not account for property assessment increases, which are not yet known.
The budget presentation also touched on employee Cost of Living Adjustments, pay grid movement, and the new manager compensation policy which in total accounted for a $250,000 increase.
Pupo also noted that the town spent about $47,000 on professional development, including the How Might We problem solving training touted by Mayor Augustyn and CAO Darren Ottaway. Councillor Accursi questioned whether that was an area where the town could make some cuts, perhaps by going in-house, but was assured that the How Might We training was essential and “embedded in everything we do.”
“I’m the only one with the Professional Innovation Advisor’s credential to be able to teach that,” added Ottaway. “The problem becomes the amount of time it takes to deliver a training session. Level 1 and level 2 is about a five day total time, level three is another five days… So yeah, we’re working towards that, we’re just not there yet.”
Pupo estimated that the overall blended tax rate increase (Municipal, Regional, School Board) for the Town of Pelham would be 3.2%
