Tax freeze budget includes user fee hikes

Ottawa city councillorsvoted onMondayin favour of an operatingbudget thatfulfils Mayor Larry O'Brien's promise of a zero per cent property tax increase with no service cuts.

But Ottawa residents will still be paying more this year, thanks to increases in user fees and taxes allocated for police.

'When I made those commitments during the campaign, perhaps it's fair to say I didn't have three months of work under my belt at city hall.' — Mayor Larry O'Brien

The budgetpassed unanimously before 11 a.m. after less than an hour of debate.

It was put together late last week by agroup of seven councillorsand uses all of last year's $23-million surplusas well as$6 million in reserve funds — long-term savings that the city sets asideto help it get through difficult budget years.The planalso cuts some unfilled staff positions at city hall, as proposed earlier by O'Brien.

The budget includes funding for:

• Repairs to public housing.
• Amulti-year arts and festivals plan.
• Museums.
• Adiscounted transit pass for people with disabilities.
• Francophone day-care spaces.
• Areforestation program.

It also calls for a transit fare hike of two per cent, instead of the 7.5 per cent proposed earlier.

But it also includeshikes in:

• Water and sewer rates, up nine per cent a year for the next four years.
• Transit fares, up two per cent (instead of 7.5 per cent proposed earlier).
• Taxes that fund police, up about $15 per household.
• Most licence fees and user fees.

O'Brien said he didn't foresee the increases when he promised "zero means zero" during the election campaign, but he considers the freeze on property taxes for services other than police is a good start.

'The mayor gets his zero and other members of council, such as myself, get some of the things that we feel are important for the future of the city of Ottawa.' —Coun. Georges Bédard

"When I made those commitments during the campaign, perhaps it's fair to say I didn't have three months of work under my belt at city hall," he said. "We will get there and I'm just delighted that the team came together this far."

Plan called good compromise

Coun. Georges Bédard, who helped craftthebudget that passed, argued prior to the meetingthatitis a good compromise.

"The mayor gets his zero," he said, "and other members of council, such as myself, get some of the things that we feel are important for the future of the city of Ottawa."

Bédard and other councillors who drafted the plan gainedthe mayor's endorsementand spentthe weekend lobbying for the support of councillors such as Rick Chiarelli, who was initially opposed to using reserve funds.

Chiarellisaid that tactic is not sustainable, buttold CBCon Sunday that hewas willing to support the planif council vowed to be more fiscally responsible over the next decade.

"As long as there's a recognition that there's an elephant in the room, that we're going to have to deal with that elephant … then I'd be prepared to go along with this right now."