Regional councillor looks to cap 2024 budget increase early in planning process

Doug Craig does not want to see a double digit increase to the regional budget in 2024.

It's why the regional councillor, who represents Cambridge, plans to bring forward a motion to Wednesday night's council meeting. In it, he will ask regional staff to ensure next year's budget has a tax rate impact in the range of six to eight per cent, excluding the police service's budget.

He says he wants staff to come back with budget numbers and show "where we could cut costs." He says the information isn't just for councillors, but also for taxpayers.

"If we came in with a 6 per cent [budget], I mean, that would be fairly devastating for a number of programs. But the public needs to see that and I think we, regional council, needs to get into a long dialogue on how we could reduce costs," he said.

Craig said June is not too early to begin budget talks.

"I think we have to start now and looking at cost savings. The budget will come up in December for final approval, so we're not that far away once you get through the summer and we need to look at these issues," he said.

Inflation, capital costs drive budget up

Regional councillors approved an 8.5 per cent increase to the tax rate for 2023. During the during the administration and finance committee meeting on June 6, regional councillors got a preliminary look at the 2024 budget numbers, which projected a 10 per cent or more increase next year.

At that meeting, the region's chief financial officer Craig Dyer said there were a few areas where staff raised concerns about funding shortfalls, including:

• Inflation and capital costs.
• Service expansions for paramedics, transit and homelessness programs.
• Funding adjustments, including the removal of one-time funding grants, from the provincial government.

"Inflation and capital costs escalation continues to be the single largest factor impacting our budget," Dyer said. 

High construction costs, for example, aren't showing any "significant abating in any significant way" in the near future.

Inflation means the region will spend more money in 2024 to deliver the same level of service it is this year, Dyer said.

He noted regional staff expect some areas, like children's services and public health, have received "one-time" grants more than once over the past five years, but there's been an indication from the province that those funds won't be available in 2024.

On top of that, the region is growing "at a spectacular rate" and as it grows, it means services need to expand, which costs money, Dyer said.

'Very serious times'

Coun. Rob Deutschmann called it "as bleak a report as one can get."

"These are very serious times," he said.

Deutschmann also called on police to present their budget to councillors by mid-November, rather than waiting until December or January. This would give councillors time to get answers to all their questions about the police budget, he said.

Coun. Jim Erb, who represents Waterloo, expressed concerns, but also said council needed to be pragmatic in their approach to the budget.

"The projected tax increase is something that none of us wanted to hear or see but my sense is that with the inflation continuing, the cost of construction, maintaining a service level, we may be looking at a new reality until some things change," Erb said.

He added he didn't think regional staff should be the ones making decisions on what services might need to be trimmed or cut.

"That's our responsibility," he said.

Craig said he used to ask staff to trim the budget when he was mayor of Cambridge and it's not an uncommon request.

"It gives us a snapshot of what to look at, of possibilities that could be done, of areas where we should be looking and if we don't do this then it becomes down to regional councillors and that's going to be very difficult," he said.

"I think all of us want to come up with a better scenario that is less difficult for people in terms of their present tax rates and doesn't cut services."