The lights at Kingston City Hall will soon be burning through the night as council gets ready to open the books on the 2024 operating and capital budgets.
This year’s budget to look after municipal services, from plowing the roads to maintaining the parks, is a little bit different as it’s the first for Mayor Paterson since the Ontario government handed down strong mayor powers last year.
“It is my budget, and so I’ve been far more involved with staff in putting the budget together. I’m the one presenting it to council and then, ultimately, then opening up the floor for any amendments that councillors may have,” said Paterson.
Paterson said that one of the challenges of being so hands-on with the budget preparation was having to make some difficult decisions.
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He added that he and staff worked to balance the desire to keep the property tax increase low, while also allocating tax money into municipal services and upgrades.
However, he remains coy about what the actual tax hike facing property owners will be.
“If you look at all the large cities across Ontario, there are 29 cities that have a population over 100,000, and right now we’re projecting to be one of the very lowest in terms of our property tax increase in 2024,” said Paterson.
While the mayor has busied himself putting the half-billion-dollar budget together, the rest of council is getting ready with their own spending wish lists.
“I’d like to see much more investing in housing, in the environment, also in transportation and in roads and infrastructure,” said Kingscourt-Rideau Coun. Brandon Tozzo.
After coming in fresh-faced to last year’s budget talks as a newly sworn-in councillor, Tozzo said he’s feeling well prepared for this year’s deliberations.
“I think having year-over-year, we have a lot more institutional knowledge of where we really need to put our money and our assets, and where we get the biggest bang for our buck, for lack of a better term,” he said.
With the draft budget complete and ready for council and public eyes, the mayor plans to open budget talks on Jan. 15.
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