Although there have been calls to lower costs by Stratford city council members, the potential hike to the property tax levy has only gone up since the 2025 budget deliberations began.
Although there have been calls to lower costs by Stratford city council members, the potential hike to the property tax levy has only gone up since the 2025 budget deliberations began.
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While there’s still a least one more finance and labor relations committee meeting to go, and the budget will have to be approved by council, what started out as 5.9 per cent increase is now sitting at 6.53 per cent if nothing changes. This would add an average of $370 to the tax bill per home, based on the assessed 2016 value of $350,000.
This increase comes after Mayor Martin Ritsma told the Beacon Herald last month he would like to see that increase lower than five per cent.
“So from a personal perspective, from the mayor’s perspective, I would like to see it below five per cent, but that’s me and one voice, one opinion,” Ritsma said at a budget open house.
The increase also comes after Coun. Mark Hunter, who chairs the finance committee, recommended significant cuts to the city’s community grants program, which would have saved about $1.2 million. This, however, did not go anywhere at Monday night’s meeting after a compromised motion failed in a 5-5 vote.
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At least some of the increase is the result of new staffing recommended by the committee, including eight new hires and the changing of six casual positions to part-time jobs.
Among the recommended new hires are three new positions in the bylaw office: a bylaw supervisor, a bylaw enforcement officer and a backflow prevention officer, who would asses properties for hazardous uses of water and enforce the installation of backflow devices if necessary.
The bylaw supervisor comes with a salary of $122,511, one-time costs of $7,450 and future annual costs, such as a cellphone, of $5,200.
The new officer would have a salary of $105,273, one-time costs of $8,050 and future annual costs of $5,200. The backflow officer would get paid the same salary and have the same costs as the bylaw officer, but user fees would offset roughly 75 per cent of the costs.
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The committee also approved two new vehicles for the bylaw department at a cost of $55.00 each.
According to the report by the city’s building and planning services department included in the budget, the bylaw enforcement office “has been under-resourced for some time and requires additional positions to manage new tasks. . . especially while the city continues to grow.”
Despite the committee’s support for the additional positions, Ritsma expressed concern with how many additional staff members could be added once the budget is approved.
“That’s the piece that I have the most struggle. . . . And I’m not saying those expansion pieces are not important but I just know, for the rate payers, when they look at . . . new positions in the City of Stratford, they might say, ‘Wow I’m paying for that,’” the mayor said at the meeting.
The committee, which includes all of the members of council, will meet again some time in January. The budget will then need approval at a regular council meeting.
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