The Municipality of North Grenville issued the following press release regarding the 2020 Municipal Budget.
After extensive public engagement including consultations, community budget requests, and Discussion Forums, North Grenville Council approved the 2020 Municipal Budget last week.
“My Council colleagues and I know that affordability is key for residents and business leaders. Therefore, it was our objective with this year’s budget to ensure a very low tax rate increase, while still enabling crucial investments,” said Mayor Nancy Peckford.
With this in mind, Budget 2020 strikes a careful balance between quality of life considerations and affordability by approving a very modest tax rate increase for 2020 at 1.15%. This is down from last year’s 1.5% (2019), and the previous year (2018) at 2%, and constitutes the lowest tax rate increase in over 5 years.
“Further, Budget 2020 will ensure the rehabilitation and rebuild of over 20 sections of rural and urban roads, a forthcoming expansion of the community’s waste water treatment plant, the addition of emergency preparedness and fire services in rural areas, as well as improvements to parks, recreation and culture facilities and programs throughout North Grenville,” highlighted Mayor Peckford.
“This year’s further drop in the tax rate increase is made possible due to the level of growth we continue to see in our community,” added Deputy Mayor Jim McManaman. “But with growth comes the need to invest, so that we remain competitive as a community, and can offer a great quality of life to those already here.”
Budget 2020 also seeks to create the conditions for the expansion of North Grenville’s commercial tax base in order to diversify our community, create local jobs, and relieve the heavy reliance on residential tax payers.
“Facilitating opportunities for community involvement and partnerships is key to ensuring North Grenville’s economic sustainability. Our approach in Budget 2020 is to foster a collaborative, creative, and desirable community where residents and businesses can thrive,” emphasized North Grenville’s new Chief Administrative Officer Gary Dyke. “In this respect, I believe this budget hits the mark.”
This year’s budget discussions also included anticipated expenditures and revenue for every year up until 2023. This enabled staff and Council to take a longer view, and plan ahead for potential projects. However, each year’s budget will be brought to the community and staff for significant discussion and debate before it is formally adopted.
Budget 2020 Highlights:
This year’s Budget will advance an infrastructure and community development plan by:
• Pursuing significant investments in over 20 rural and urban roads, bridges as well as North Grenville’s waste water treatment facility;
• Increasing community beautification efforts and resident access to community based services, including transportation for medical care, and local access to mental health supports;
• Leveraging existing recreational, parks and athletic activities and initiatives to advance day tourism opportunities for our water ways, and build on the significant efforts of local sports and community organizations;
• Improving connectivity throughout North Grenville when it comes to multi-use pathways, trails and sidewalks;
• Preserving, where it makes good financial sense, a very small number of cultural and heritage facilities.
Budget 2020 can be found on our website at: www.northgrenville.ca/budget.
