Cambridge council push final budget vote to next Tuesday

After more than six hours of deliberation, Cambridge council decided last Thursday to finish budget deliberations next Tuesday, mainly to give councillors time to mull over a proposed increase to this year's tax levy.

Councillors couldn't agree on a final amount for the yearly tax increase during Thursday's meeting. The city's draft budget looked at an increase of 3.93 per cent, which would translate to less than $5 a month for the average household.

Council later settled on an 4.7 per cent tax for this year after adding additional money toward items like paying city staff a living wage, for instance.

But Coun. Scott Hamilton brought forward a motion where he recommended increasing the tax by an additional 1.5 per cent to make up for the shortfalls created by Bill 23, the More Homes Built Faster Act.

Parts of the Bill 23 propose waiving some of the money cities would normally charge developers in an effort to build homes faster, but many municipalities have argued the bill would increase the financial burden on taxpayers.

That includes Waterloo council, which postponed a $68 million reconstruction project until it knew more about how the legislation will impact their budget.

"What used to be paid for by the developer when growth pays for growth is now substantially reduced and removed and that money has to come from somewhere and right now it's going to come from the taxpayer," Hamilton said.

"We see the freight train coming. If we don't make any moves to prepare for that, then a lot of those capital projects we have that we've been working on for years — I'm looking at things like the upcoming rec complex, more ice pads — those are put in jeopardy."

If Hamilton's motion passes, it would mean a total tax increase of 6.2 per cent for the average household in 2023. That increase, however, did not sit well with Mayor Jan Ligget or Coun. Mike Devine.

"It's a big hit for the community. We can say it's only two dollars a week, but two bucks here, two bucks there and nine bucks there, it all adds up. Let's not kid ourselves," Devine said.

Devine tabled a motion to defer the decision on Hamilton's motion to next Tuesday, which passed six to two. 

Council's drop-in meetings

Earlier this week, questions were also raised about meetings councillors had with city staff over the budget. Mayor Liggett told CBC Kitchener-Waterloo that councillors met in small groups with staff to help them better understand the budget.

"We got a council where half of them are brand new and they've never seen this kind of budget before," Liggett said in an interview.

"These drop-in meetings we had give them the opportunity to ask their questions and then staff give them the answer there. There's not requirement for council members to attend."

Liggett said the meetings were held in small groups with a clerk present at each meeting and minutes were taken.

"There's no motions, no decisions are made at these meetings. It's strictly Q and A information," she said. "Nothing was attempted to be hidden."

Liggett said council did not break the rules as minutes from those meetings were then made public as part of the agenda that went before council on Feb.9, unlike what happened at the City of Waterloo in 2015 when the city told it had to make minutes of those their private meetings public.

Cambridge councillors will meet on Feb. 21 to finish budget deliberations in committee. The budget is expected to be passed at the next council meeting on Feb. 28.