CORNWALL, Ontario – The Budget Steering Committee passed its budget onto council at their last meeting on Thursday, Feb. 16, but two councilors were not happy with a few last minute cuts and voted against it.
If passed by Council, the proposed budget would see an increase to the tax rate of 2.79 percent, or $62.61 for a $161, 899 home.
Originally, the City’s administration had forecasted for the committee an increase of over 4 percent to the property tax, but that number was brought down by some considerable belt tightening, including removing $300, 000 earmarked for new soccer fields at the Benson Centre.
According to Councillor Bernadette Clement, the motion to remove the Benson Centre money from the budget was made by Budget Committee Chair Denis Carr.
The money would have been used to purchase some surrounding lands around the Benson Centre owned by CN Rail that the freight company had marked as surplus.
Councillor Clement objected to this draft of the budget in part because of the removal of the money earmarked for Benson, which she feels was made in haste and without proper consideration.
"I don’t like voting on surprise motions without first getting feedback from administration on how it could impact future decisions," she told Seaway News. "Before making this decision I want to know how it will affect our future plans for the Benson Centre. What if these lands are no longer available to us down the road because of this decision."
Last night’s vote means that the work of the Budget Committee is now done, and it will be up to Council to find the consensus to pass the final budget.
In addition to the impact to the Benseon Centre, one issue that Councillor Clement feels will come up in the final deliberations is the issue of reserves.
Mayor Leslie O’Shaughnessy, who is not a member of the Budget Committee repeatedly expressed his intention to make a motion to Council that reserves from parts of the City’s overall budget be used to offset the tax increase.
Councillor Clement told Seaway News that she for one wanted to be sure that the City’s financial security would not be hurt further down the road if reserves were dipped into this year.
"I’m looking for us to have a full discussion around council," she said. "I want to be sure that we’re not putting off this pain until further down the line."
With discussions on the final budget a head of Council, there are only two meetings they are expected to have between now and April.
The Budget Committee had hoped to get the budget to Council sooner, but it was delayed for the same reason that they had to face a tax rate increase this year, namely ongoing disputes local commercial properties are having with the Municipal Property Tax Corporation (MPAC).
Shopper’s Realty Inc., Metreus, and Wal Mart Canada all have appealed their property tax assessment with MPAC for the 2013-2016 years.
MPAC decides the property values that municipalities must use when they are forming their tax rolls. Any property owner can appeal MPAC’s decision, but these appeals have left Cornwall with uncertainty as to what their tax base will be for the coming budget year.
Shopper’s Realty Inc.’s appeal was decided at the beginning of this month and their property value at their warehouse in Cornwall was reassessed at nearly $11 million lower than the original number. This means that the City of Cornwall has to pay back nearly $275, 000 in collected tax dollars over the past four years.
The remaining MPAC appeals are still waiting to be decided. Before Christmas, the Budget Committee talked about waiting on these appeals to be completed before finishing the budget so they knew what real numbers they would be dealing with, but now it seems that the time for waiting on MPAC is over.
Ultimately, Councillor Carilyne Hebert joined Councillor Bernadette Clement in voting against the budget while committee chair Denis Car and Councillors Andre Rivette and Mark MacDonald voted in favour.
