The chamber of commerce has asked the city to go back to the drawing board to find savings in an effort to avoid charging an additional tax levy for much-needed infrastructure improvements.
Kithio Mwanzia, president and CEO of the Guelph Chamber of Commerce, recently attended a corporate services committee meeting regarding the proposed two-percent infrastructure levy recommended by city staff.
The proposed levy would be charged annually over 10 years, compounding year-over-year, to help pay for replacement and repair of the city’s ageing infrastructure.
Mwanzia said there would be serious implications as result of the proposed levy and suggested the city find efficiencies from within instead of passing on the costs to the taxpayers.
“There hasn’t been a look at what the cost of operations and how those costs can be saved in one way or another and those savings passed on to close the infrastructure gap,” said Mwanzia.
The chamber president cited the future attraction and retention of business to the city, projected to grow by 50,000 residents in the next 30 years.
A 2012 report to council identified an annual infrastructure spending gap of $25.4 million.
The report covered only water, wastewater, storm and transportation systems.
“If you are increasing the municipal cost of doing business, there is a knock-on effect of businesses being able to hire new people,” said Mwanzia.
He is also concerned about how proposed rise in residential taxes will affect livability and affordability of the people who own and work in those businesses.
Four committee members — Ward 3 councillor Phil Allt, Ward 4 councillor Christine Billings, Ward 6 councillor Mark MacKinnon and committee chair (and Ward 3 councillor) June Hofland — voted in favour of receiving the staff report, while Mayor Cam Guthrie voted against during the February 1 meeting.
The mayor tabled a separate motion to have city staff seek efficiencies internally and to present the findings to the committee in the city’s fiscal second quarter of 2016.
The city’s budget process generally begins in September and is voted on in December.
Allt referred to it as an ‘apple pie motion’ without specific targets and voted against it.
“We are adding on to staff work. I am reluctant to do that. I believe staff do look for those [efficiencies] and is looking for those and therefore the redundancies bother me,” said Allt.
The mayor’s motion narrowly passed, with yes votes from Guthrie, Billings and MacKinnon.
Allt and Hofland voted against the mayor’s motion.
“Hopefully now staff will come back to committee with a list of options we can take inside. I just didn’t want to wait until the end of the year to find a method for looking for efficiencies and looking within,” said Guthrie.
