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The average Brant County homeowner is looking at a property tax increase of under $ 100 next year.
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County councilors at a committee-of-the-whole meeting this week recommended approving a 2022 budget with a tax increase of 3.15 per cent. For a resident with a home worth $ 363,000, the increase translates into a property tax bill of $ 3,146.29 next year, an increase of $ 95.97.
The budget is expected to be approved at a Dec. 21 meeting of county council.
An earlier Expositor story on budget deliberations said the operating budget, at that time, called for a 4.1 per cent property tax hike. In fact, the proposed tax hike at the time was 1.3 per cent, or $ 39.63 for the average homeowner.
At this week’s meeting, counselors recommended giving $ 100,000 to the Stedman Community Hospice and $ 70,000 to St. Joseph’s Lifecare Center, both based in Brantford. The funding will come from the county’s contingency fund.
Councilors were told earlier that the $ 100,000 would be put toward hiring front-line staff for the hospice, while the $ 70,000 would enable St. Joe’s, a long-term care home, to purchase in-person and virtual training and resources.
While councillors voted unanimously to support the hospice request objected to supporting St. Joe’s.
Coun. John Wheat reminded counselors that the lifecare center, located in the former St. Joseph’s Hospital, started with 20 beds from the John Noble Home, a long-term care home run jointly by the county and city.
“There was funding from the county and the city to support that,” said Wheat, adding that municipal funding for St. Joe’s came to an end about three years ago.
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“We have to look at (supporting) the John Noble Home,” Wheat said. “That is our long-term care home.”
He said the county will be looking at additional operating costs for the John Noble Home if a request for additional beds is approved.
“We have to keep that in mind.”
However, Coun. Marc Laferriere said the funding request from St. Joe’s was one-time investment that would help the center better serve the community.
“It’s something that will enhance services that our residents use,” Laferriere said.
“We talk about community safety and well-being, we talk about seniors. To me this is reasonable and it’s less than what they’ve asked for in the past. ”
Councilors also voted to add $ 100,000 to the operating budget for “walkability infrastructure” to support, among other things, construction of additional sidewalks.
At the end of this week’s meeting, which lasted just five minutes shy of three hours, Mayor David Bailey spoke about the difficulty in delivering the 2022 budget.
“The decisions we made here tonight are not going to make everyone happy,” said Bailey, who spoke about the diversity of needs throughout the county. “We’re trying to do the best we can and trying to please as many people as we can.”
The county’s operating budget was impacted by, among other things, a change in cost-sharing agreements with the City of Brantford, which will see the county pay about $ 2 million more a year for social services. The additional costs will be phased in over a three-year period with an initial payment of more than $ 600,000 in 2022.
The budget calls for spending of just over $ 112 million, of which $ 62.9 million will come from local taxpayers. The balance will come from a range of sources, including federal / provincial grants and revenues from fees and service charges.
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