Municipal budgets have all the mystery and intrigue of a television mini-series — you never know what the ending will be, or how it’s going to get there.
During Springwater council’s special budget meeting Monday night, the township’s finance boss brought a little Hollywood to the proceedings, if only for a minute.
“Welcome to episode two of budget season 2025,” finance director Greg Bedard said as he introduced the evening’s agenda, which was focused on the township’s service-partner budget requests for next year.
“Overall, the base budget impact, without program changes, is an increase of approximately $658,000,” he said of the service partners' combined ask. “To the average taxpayer, with a home assessed at $497,000, this represents an annual increase in taxes payable of $72 (annually), or $6 per month."
Bedard also said it's "important to note" that of this $72 annual increase, 87 per cent ($63 per year) is driven by the increased cost of policing the township.
If the policing cost is removed, Bedard said the annual base budget increase for township service partners is $9.
The evening started with two relatively small funding requests — the first from the Georgian Bay Physician Recruitment group and the second from the Barrie Area Physician Recruitment team.
The Georgian Bay group was looking for $10,000 for next year, a $6,000 increase over 2024. while the Barrie team was looking for $8,000.
For the sake of parity, Coun. Anita Moore suggested both groups request $10,000.
The Nottawasaga Valley Conservation Authority (NVCA) was seeking an increase of almost $42,000 over last year, and the Severn Sound Environmental Association (SSEA) was looking for a marginal bump of about $5,500.
The biggest hit to Springwater taxpayers will be the OPP increase. Last year, policing cost township residents $2,424,238. The OPP are requesting $2,998,731 — or 24 per cent more — for 2025.
According to Coun. Phil Fisher, the residents he’s talked to say they aren’t concerned with the cost, as long as there’s an equal increase in service.
“The frustrations I hear is, it’s not so much the dollar figure but rather ‘what are we getting for this $3 million?” he said. “I think that actually, our residents, if we were spending $3 million, I don’t think there is anybody who would say that policing is not important or put it on the back burner.
“Policing is absolutely important, and with the growth we’re experiencing, it’s becoming increasingly important to plan for the future,” Fisher added.
Fisher said he’d like to see proactive policing become the norm.
“In my ward, we’re seeing break-ins into cars on a fairly regular basis and we’re seeing speeding come through the area,” he said. “These are becoming concerns and what I consistently hear from people is, ‘we don’t want police to show up after the incident, we want a police presence.'
"If we’re spending $3 million a year, I think that’s not too much to ask from our OPP partners.”
Council made no decisions on the requests they heard Monday night. All requests will be considered at the Nov. 27 session.
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