Barrie City Hall’s $6.9-million redevelopment is inching ahead.
The complete, floor-by-floor renovation at 70 Collier St., at Mulcaster Street, is both to increase occupancy and to make more efficient use of each floor, to ensure it has the capacity to accommodate the city’s anticipated growth — in staff and residents.
The existing facility is at capacity and doesn’t have space for future growth, staff say.
The redevelopment is to cost just more than $6.9 million until its 2027 completion, $5.7 million of it from the tax capital reserve.
And while it’s part of the 2024 capital budget, for which council will consider final approval Dec. 6, Coun. Bryn Hamilton would like to extend the project another year and stretch out the funding accordingly.
“We’re spending a lot of upfront money ($2.1 million) on the outset, in 2024, on the backs of taxpayers. We have to think the average person right now is trying to figure out how to put food on the table, how to figure out how to pay their mortgage,” she said.
“What I’m proposing is to just spread it out over another year. I’m just looking through the lens of a taxpayer," Hamilton added.
Spreading the cost of Barrie City Hall’s redevelopment over another year could free up money in the tax capital reserve for other city expenses, lessening the 2024 property tax increase, which will not be known until Jan. 31.
Hamilton’s motion that almost $1.85 million from the tax capital reserve be reduced to $1 million for 2024, and to reduce the annual funding to $1 million, by extending the project to 2028 to accommodate the reduced annual contributions for a total new funding of $5 million out to 2028, was withdrawn at the Nov. 29 general committee meeting, pending a staff memo on the effect of these changes to the project.
The city has 1,001 full-time employees and approximately 538 part-time employees. These numbers can fluctuate based on vacancies, leaves, recruitment, etc. Temporary part-time positions fluctuate based on operational need, such as recreation programming. These numbers don’t include the Barrie Public Library or the Barrie Police Service.
The 2024 budget includes 17 new full-time employees and 10 casual or temporary full-time employees.
Hamilton noted city staff worked from home through the COVID pandemic and now it’s a hybrid work environment, with about 200 staff working at home.
“We have to put everything into perspective,” she said. “I understand the work that needs to be done. We have to be thinking what is the bottom line and what is the effect to residents.”
The Ward 10 councillor also pointed to a recent phone survey. The city had Oraclepoll Research ask Barrie residents this past fall what was important to them.
For 26 per cent of respondents, the main issue was the cost of living, followed by addictions, drugs and opioids at 21 per cent, housing availability and affordability at 13 per cent, and crime, drug violence and public safety at 11 per cent.
The survey of 1,000 respondents took place Oct. 18 to 26 and the results have a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 per cent.
“What’s important to taxpayers, top of mind, the No. 1 issue of most significant things facing Barrie residents right now, is cost of living,” Hamilton said.
The nine-storey, 90,000-square-foot tower at 70 Collier was built in 1972. Barrie bought it in the early 1980s, adding the podium and Rotunda.
In early 2018, city council considered an expansion and renovation costing $73.6 million, plus another $14.7 million in soft costs, for a total of $88.3 million. It was to be eight storeys and 140,000 sq. ft.
But the plan was shelved, and has now been replaced with one for renovations or redevelopment inside the existing structures.
