TIMMINS - While council members who attended the first budget meeting agree it's a good document, there is concern about the impact outside boards will have on taxpayers.
The 2025 budget season for Timmins council started on Tuesday (Nov. 5).
The proposed net budget that impacts taxes residents pay is at $49.3 million, which is $1.8 million — or 3.79 per cent — more than 2024. The document does not include what the proposed levy increase would see the average homeowner paying in taxes.
The proposed net operating budget is $38.9 million, an $865,095 — or 2.2 per cent — decrease from 2024. At $49.3 million, the net capital budget is $2.7 million — or 26.3 per cent — more than this year.
“Really what we did is we took the savings under operating and shifted it to capital because we know there’s just never enough money for capital,” director of finance Natalie Moore told council.
Water and wastewater rates will also increase, but have not been approved yet.
The increase does not include budgets from agencies, boards and commissions (ABCs) that also may impact the tax levy. Council members have made over $10.2 million in requests that also aren't included.
Coun. Bill Gvozdanovic is really concerned about what's going to happen with the ABCs, especially the Cochrane District Services Board (formerly the Cochrane District Social Services Administration Board).
Last month, the CDSB applied to the Ministry of Health for one of the new Homeless and Addiction Recovery Treatment (HART) hub at the Ramada Inn in the west end of Timmins.
“Let’s just go slow because if this doesn’t work we’re in big trouble,” he said.
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He reinforced the need for public consultation.
Since the project was announced, there has only been one public meeting despite information sheets handed out there listing future sessions.
"We need to stand there, and if the public wants to say I’m worried, I’m afraid, I’m not happy, or whatever, we need to let them have the microphone at some point. We cannot be afraid and suppress the people from talking.
"We can’t push off to the side and say, ‘Well you can just put your comments online and we’ll take it like that.’ We seen what happened at the Ramada for the public meeting, it didn’t go off to a good start. That doesn’t mean that we can’t reload and come back a different way, but it has to be with public engagement and I urge just go slow for now," said Gvozdanovic.
He also asked what the plan is if the HART Hub isn't approved.
Coun. Andrew Marks sits on the CDSB board. At the last meeting in October, he said a plan B was requested and it should be in place by the end of November.
The other councillors at the meeting were Lorne Feldman, Kristin Murray and Rock Whissell. Cory Robin was the chair in the absence of Mayor Michelle Boileau. Steve Black and John Curley were also not in attendance.
For those at the meeting, they talked favourably about the 3.79 per cent increase.
“This is a good start. This is good work. And we can tinker with it a little bit and keep it reasonable and not play games with the public,” said Gvozdanovic.
Marks said it's a responsible and reasonable budget, and noted the public survey results.
“You can see that it’s a maintenance budget very, very clearly with hopefully some service increases where we can hit the residents where they want to be hit with improvements in road and some of the hard infrastructure that matters to them,” he said.
Feldman also noted the good work done by staff and talked about how residents are the majority of the tax base.
“To me it’s just not enough to sit back and say we can’t do anything. Because if that was redistributed somewhat, every year it would be a bit of a relief for the homeowners just because of the distribution that is beyond the city’s control,” he said.
The Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC) is responsible for reassessments, with the last broad one being in 2016.
“And that seemed to have shifted a lot of the costs in Timmins from industry and larger business onto homeowners,” said CAO Dave Landers.
It will take the province moving ahead with a reassessment or looking at tax reforms to change. MPAC was mentioned in Ontario's fall economic statement for the first time in years, said Landers.
“It’s sort of a stay tuned, there’s nothing for us now, but it hasn’t fallen off the radar, which I think has been a concern of municipalities across Ontario. And ours, we’ve talked about it often,” he said.
Answering a question from Feldman, Landers also laid out some of the city's future financial concerns.
Glencore Kidd Operations is a legacy mining operation in town and has the world's deepest base-metal mine. It's near the end of its life and it's not known how long it will be open.
While he said the city's doing the best it can with cybersecurity, it's an area where something could come out of left field.
“In terms of all the things that I think about could go wrong that I think about, that will go wrong at some point in time to some level. It’s happened almost everywhere to almost everybody,” said Landers.
Insurance costs are also tough because the city's rating is good, but there are industry changes that he said the city pays the price for.
Notable capital projects in the 2025 budget are:
- The redevelopment of the Golden Manor continues to have a significant impact. There's a $2.6 million transfer to reserve for the projected and the projected construction costs for 2025 are $46.4 million, which is offset with funding.
- $13.3 million for Connecting Link work. It includes $11.6 million for Highway 101 from Crawford to the Porcupine bridge, $452,000 for the Crawford creek culvert, $165,000 to design future phases, and $595,000 for the contract administration contract. The cost is partially offset by funding.
- $1.2 million to retro fit Del Villano park. That includes $952,000 for pickleball and tennis courts and lights (a funding application is being submitted) and $300,000 to install a cricket field.
- $2.5 million for grind and pave, which is offset with gas tax funding.
- $1.1 million for the second phase of the Mattagami boat launch project, which includes pavers, furniture and fixtures, barbecues, parking lot expansion, lighting upgrades and a graffiti wall. The city is applying for funding to cover 50 per cent of the cost.
- $1 million for the reconstruction of Moose Creek.
- $880,000 to upgrade the traffic light at Airport Road and Westmount, which is partially offset with cash from the traffic light reserve.
- $750,000 for the Archie Dillon Sportsplex pool upgrades, which includes $275,000 to paint the walls and ceiling, $225,000 for an access ladder and to replace the entrance doors, and $250,000 for the grouting of the three pools.
- $550,000 to prepare Falcon Street in Porcupine for the Ontario Northland Railway station.
- $500,000 for the design of a new fire hall.
For transit, the capital expenses include $2.3 million for three conventional buses, with the cost being offset by funding. There's also $2.5 million to build a bus wash facility, and $1.5 million for a cold storage building construction, which are both offset with funding.
The next budget meeting is later this month. Read the presentation at this week's meeting here or the full budget package given to council here.
