The County of Simcoe is asking for a 12.8 per cent increase — or $4 million more — for Barrie’s share of its 2024 operating and capital budget.
County officials presented this year’s budget, and funding request, to city council on Wednesday night.
It forecasts Barrie’s share of 2024 county expenditures as $35.782 million, compared to the $31.732 million forecast last year.
“We do understand that our ask has increased this year — we understand that it’s about 10 per cent of your overall budget,” Simcoe County Warden Basil Clarke told city councillors.
The County of Simcoe provides Barrie with a number of services: land ambulances and paramedics, social housing, long term care homes, Ontario Works, children’s services, homelessness prevention, shelter system co-ordination, affordable housing, health and emergency services, the Simcoe County Museum and the Simcoe County Archives, which store city records.
County officials said these areas are facing significant demand across the province, but that county-wide delivery of these programs provides efficiencies and value for all Simcoe County residents.
But not for the first time Barrie councillors spoke of a review of spending city dollars on county services.
“I just feel we keep throwing more and more money at things,” said Coun. Bryn Hamilton. “I would love to see a value-for-money (review), the sort of effectiveness of the money we are spending.”
“If you didn’t get the full ask (city funding request), what would come off first?” Coun. Sergio Morales said of the county budget.
“Would the county be open to a value-for-service (review) on the services that we’re contributors to, funded by the city?” asked Mayor Alex Nuttall. “An audit of where we’re effective, not effective, funded by the city?”
He noted this was just a question and that there is no council motion to this effect.
General manager of finance Trevor Wilcox said the county would be open to this.
The city pays its annual share of the cost of county services.
For land ambulances and paramedics, as an example, Barrie’s bill would be $8.77 million this year, or $1.3 million more, an increase of 18 per cent — while Barrie contributes 25 per cent of the total budget for regional paramedic services.
Simcoe County paramedics have 17 stations and eight posts. This year’s budget adds six front-line paramedics, two platoon supervisors and one project co-ordinator.
The county is also budgeting for a $684,000 increase in Barrie’s Ontario Works bill, to $4.725 million, or 17 per cent more. The projected caseload is about 5,700.
Health and emergency services would be 14.3 per cent more expensive for the city this year, rising almost $1.3 million to $10.3 million. This includes four homes and 544 beds in Simcoe County, with 16 additional beds in Georgian Manor in Penetanguishene and 34 more beds at Simcoe Manor in Beeton.
The total budget for social housing for Barrie is $7.8 million. And while 42 per cent of the county’s social housing units are within Barrie, the city contributes 25 per cent of the total county budget for regional social housing.
The county is also continuing to build affordable housing in Barrie this year, with its $217-million affordable housing and community service hub development at the Rose Street property in Barrie. It will create 215 new affordable housing units in the city. Work on this project is anticipated to occur 2024 to 2026-27.
Barrie’s share of the county’s operating budget is $25.9 million, or $2.7 million more than last year’s budget, while the city share of the capital budget is $9.9 million, or $1.3 million more than the budget in 2023.
Which brings Barrie’s total cost this year to almost $35.8 million, or almost $4.1 million more than last year’s budget.
There was some discrepancy about budget numbers at last night's presentation.
Nuttall said Barrie's figures show a 16.2 per cent budget increase or a 1.33 per cent impact to city taxpayers, numbers confirmed by Craig Millar, the city’s chief financial officer and treasurer.
The county says all of its budget figures are before applying growth, development charges and use of reserves. If growth is two per cent, for example, then the effective impact to existing residents of the operating increase is two per cent lower. Development charges (DCs) can be used to reduce the impact of capital costs related to growth and Barrie city council, like county council, can approve the use of reserves to cover a portion of its share as well.
“We take the 12.8 per cent, subtract off growth because the current taxpayers are not really funding that, or the DCs that are eligible, so our estimate is an increase of about 9.9 per cent, effective against the taxpayer, which when calculated against the 10 per cent portion is about a one per cent total across impact to the residents of Barrie,” Wilcox said.
County officials said the final impact to Barrie ratepayers will be determined by what Barrie decides to use for this portion of the budget. Despite inflationary and increased demand on the critical services provided by the county in recent years — affordable housing, homelessness prevention, paramedics and support for seniors — the full amount represents an approximate one per cent increase to Barrie residents’ tax bills in 2024, county officials have said.
Millar says a $3.205-million increase to the city’s budget equals a one per cent tax impact for Barrie homeowners.
City council is expected to consider final approval of the Simcoe County budget at its Jan. 31 meeting, and set the 2024 property tax rate.
In December, council approved an operating/capital budget with no increase to property taxes on the city portion of spending for the typical Barrie homeowner, with a home assessed at $368,000, and with a 2023 tax bill of $4,724.
But the zero increase does not include budget requests for the city’s service partners, not only the County of Simcoe, but the Barrie Police Service and the Barrie Public Library, which also presented their budgets Wednesday night.
Property taxes in Barrie are calculated based on the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation’s (MPAC) assessed value. MPAC last did a province-wide assessment in 2016, so assessed property values are significantly lower than actual 2024 market values.
