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Prince Edward County passes operating budget for 2023

Lines of black text. The first line is bolded. Above it is the Prince Edward County logo which depicts an illustrated red barn with attached grey grain elevator. Beneath it is sand coloured ground with a blue partial wave pattern further beneath that. A rendering of purple grapes also is attached to the image. All illustrations are organized around a circular motif.
Photo from the Prince Edward County public record.
Alexander Wright - CJPE - Picton • ON | 27-02-2023
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On Friday, Prince Edward County passed its 2023 tax-supported Operating Budget in a close vote of 8 to 6.

Council approved the tax-supported budget for $71.6 million, a 5 per cent increase to the tax levy, and its rate-supported operating budget for $11.4 million.

Under the tax supported stream, council authorized the following:

  • $25.3 million for general government purposes including council costs, government administration costs, external agencies like public health/libraries, and the Community Grant Program;
  • $10.4 million for protection services including OPP police services, fire-rescue services, and by-law and regulatory administration/enforcement;
  • $11.7 million for transportation services including engineering costs, annual road maintenance,  parking control, and the County Transit public bus services;
  • $3.2 million for environmental services including waste, organics, and recycling collection;
  • $3.6 million for health services including ambulance services contracted with Hastings County and maintaining pioneer cemeteries;
  • $8.4 million for social-family services and affordable housing including the annual costs associated with maintaining the H. J. McFarland Memorial Home long-term care facility, as well as the Affordable Housing Corporation;
  • $5 million for recreation and cultural services including yearly maintenance of community halls, centres, parks, museums, marinas, and harbors;
  • $3.1 million for planning and development including costs associated with processing planning applications, as well as tourism management.

Around 33 per cent of the $71.6 million will be funded by non-tax revenues, while the rest will be funded by a roughly five per cent increase to the tax levy. County staff explained that inflation and supply chain issues (still being felt from COVID-19) are to blame for the increased external agency and vendor costs associated with meeting established municipal standards of service.

Under the rate-supported stream, council approved $11.4 million worth of funding for water and wastewater operating expenditures, including the filling of the soon-to-be-complete Wellington Water Tower, and transfers to related capital reserves.

On additions and subtractions to the budget during deliberations, council approved a $350,000 expanded Municipal Financial Relief Grant program (to be funded by year end reserve carryforward dollars) and authorized the hiring of an in-house municipal lawyer position because of the potential savings it would bring to the County’s external legal spend.

Council also authorized $340,000 worth of additional road shouldering and spot repair funds for the worst-off county roads. Two previously approved municipal debt financed projects were dropped by Council, including the $43 million earmarked for the H.J. McFarland Memorial Home redevelopment, due to the municipality withdrawing from the province’s accelerated funding program because of finalized planning not being ready. County staff, along with many other municipalities, hope to pursue a hoped-for second round of provincial long-term care accelerated redevelopment funding. Council also dropped its debt-financed order for a wheel loader vehicle replacement for the tune of $308,000 (as well as rejected a motion to contribute $50,000 for repairing the older existing vehicle).

Some tension manifested during the final hours of the budget deliberations as motions were attempted to limit the cost of living adjustment (COLA) for non-union municipal staff and councillors, which currently sits at 6.3 per cent based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI).

Concerning non-union staff, Wellington Councillor Corey Engelsdorfer proposed a motion to set their COLA at 4 per cent (for a savings of $224,000). In response, Mayor Steve Ferguson had the following to say:

Concerning council, Councillor Engelsdorfer proposed a motion to set COLA for the councillors at 3 per cent (for a savings of $15,000). Here is a sample of the debate from council that the motion caused:

Both motions narrowly failed, before council passed its operating budget with 8 out of 14 votes.

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