3.7% tax levy in St. Marys on its way to final approval

The proposed 2023 budget in St. Marys – and its 3.7 per cent tax levy – strikes a balance between being fair to taxpayers and addressing major infrastructure needs over the next decade, the town’s director of corporate services says.

“We’ve done a really good job of presenting a budget that is fair to our residents … but also is sustainable as we move forward,” Andre Morin said at a meeting Tuesday evening.

St. Marys Mayor Al Strathdee put it another way.

“I think this budget is a reflection that we went into the pandemic mean (and) we’ve come out of the pandemic lean,” he said. “The reality is we’ve asked staff to do more with less and they have continued to do so.”

This week’s council meeting was the final opportunity residents and politicians had to go over the numbers publicly before the St. Marys budget returns for approval in two weeks.

After a 20-minute presentation Tuesday, no questions were flung Morin’s way. That means the budget’s 3.7 per cent tax levy will likely be approved as is when council meets next March 14.

Although the levy is higher than the two per cent target councilors in St. Marys set prior to October’s municipal elections, the number is identical to the one staff proposed when they first brought forward this year’s draft budget in January.

In St. Marys, a town of about 7,500, that levy means an additional $148 on the tax bill of the average homeowner. It also represents about 53 per cent of the revenue the town will generate in 2023.

Morin told council Tuesday there aren’t a lot of “fancy” projects in the budget this year.

“It is kind of a year where we tried to catch up on a lot of the projects we’re doing but also really get ourselves in a good position as we develop our new strategic plan,” he said.

Still, there are a few noteworthy highlights.

The town is spending $53,000 to address cybersecurity following an attack that took its network offline last summer. Specific details about the incident, one of many in Southwestern Ontario recently, are expected to be discussed publicly at a meeting this month.

Also in the budget is a $100,000 staffing plan meant to prevent the costly turnover of early childhood educators and add capacity to the town’s recreation department.

Other projects in the budget are leftovers from last year, including a review of the locations town services are offered, a plan to enhance Milt Dunnell Field, and renovations at town hall.

The bigger ticket items are in public works, however.

Roughly 22 per cent of the funds the town raises through the tax levy will be spent financing capital projects. A long-term capital plan covering the next decade has recently been a significant focus for staff, Morin said.

“We’re expected to spend over the next 10 years on our capital about $70 million,” he said. “For a municipality our size, that’s a substantial amount of money.”

The majority of those expenditures will be sunk into the town’s wastewater system. Besides planned upgrades to the town’s water treatment facility, St. Marys has been forced to fix several deteriorating pipes in its sewer system, a multi-year rehabilitation project expected to get underway later this year.

Town councilors have already approved a $400,000 tender for the first leg of the work. Three projects of similar scope and cost are expected to move forward in 2024, 2025 and 2026.

Morin said Tuesday that town does have the funds to cover the $70 million in capital projects on its schedule between now and 2032.

The big question, he added, is how much will be left to fund the assets that will require attention afterwards.

“That’s a lot of the work you’re going to see us do over the next year,” Morin said.

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