New dedicated fund to mitigate budget impacts on taxpayers approved

To prepare for future challenges, the City of St. Catharines plans to enhance its budget process and will create a dedicated fund to mitigate the impact of the municipal budget on taxpayers.

“With the creation of a special Tax Mitigation Fund, Council and the City are committed to assisting our residents, our taxpayers, as we prepare for the financial challenges ahead,” said Mayor Mat Siscoe, following a meeting of Council Monday. “We plan to continue to not only identify but implement strategies to enhance our budget process and further explore opportunities to mitigate the impact of our municipal budget on our taxpayers.”

One of those potential mitigation initiatives that has been identified, for example, is an Older Adults Tax Increase Deferral program, not yet adopted by Council. Additional mitigation initiatives will be identified and brought back to Council for consideration.

The City will track and identify the staff positions that were budgeted for but were delayed in being filled or were unable to be filled, along with the total budgetary savings because of this ‘gapping’ and report these savings to the Budget Committee for inclusion into a special Tax Mitigation Fund for 2024, 2025 and 2026.

Also, staff have been directed to prepare the 2024-2026 multi-year budget with the current approved full-time complement. Any additional staff requests will be brought to the Budget Standing Committee, and approved by Council, with a business case and explanation of service impacts.

Moving forward the City also plans to better align the City and Regional budget processes to ensure factors of affordability are taken into consideration during both budget deliberations.

“The City recognizes the budget decisions we make, and the financial challenges we face, impact not only our municipal operations but also affordability for our taxpayers,” said Chief Administrative Officer David Oakes. “Staff will work with the Region over the coming months to identify opportunities to improve the two tiers budget process and enhance public understanding of how these two levels of government budgets are integrated.”

For the City, some of the budget challenges identified include the need to replenish reserves used up during the COVID-19 pandemic; increasing responsibilities and pressures associated with provincial legislation; as well as challenges with the changed circumstances from a health and safety standpoint due to the continued worsening of the homelessness, opioid and mental health crises.