TOWN OF MINTO – Minto passed its 2020 budget at a remote council meeting on Tuesday.
Treasurer Gordon Duff said to council that despite the unique circumstances with the COVID-19 situation, the budget is mostly the same as what was presented in December and January.
Transfers from reserves to fund capital projects were budgeted at over $2.3 million, which one councillor noted was higher than usual.
Duff explained this was because some construction tenders came in at a higher cost than the town had hoped, particularly the Arthur Street East connecting link in Harriston.
“We’re really committed to going through with that one because we’re getting $1,008,000 in the connecting link funding,” Duff said to council. “There’s no flexibility on increasing the amount of the grant so I had to take a bit more out of reserves.”
Mayor George Bridge and Duff said this was also related to the quality of the asphalt needed and a larger than usual stormwater pipe that was necessary in this project.
In a follow-up phone call, the mayor explained that the budget would normally be passed around this time because a lower-tier government shares certain tax dollars with the county. The county passes their budget in January which tells the lower-tier governments of property tax rates.
“We don’t know how they’re going to set the different rates for commercial or residential,” Bridge said. “We could pass something earlier but it wouldn’t necessarily be the true figure.”
He said the budget was passed about a week later than normal because the COVID-19 restrictions cancelled the usual public open house and a council meeting to discuss the budget.
“Each year I try to go a little closer to February to get it passed but it takes long because of the logistics but we start working on it in December or November,” he said.
Other than a small set-back in getting the budget passed, Bridge said he doesn’t see COVID-19 affecting this year beyond some lost revenue.
“There’ll be a little concern on the revenue side just because people are going to delay their taxes and stuff like that,” Bridge said. “I think we’re in good enough position at this point in time to weather that storm, we have some reserves that we can work on.”
Bridge said he sees the COVID-19 situation as a good example to why people and towns should save money.
“You should always have six months of money that you can use for living expenses, you certainly want to have that and a bit more at the town level,” Bridge said.
Bridge said he thinks towns will see stimulus packages from provincial and federal governments to assist with infrastructure projects but is waiting to see how everything works out.
“We’ll see how all this unfolds, after three, four or five months of this and we’ll see where we’re at,” Bridge said. “Going into next year it’ll definitely affect what we do next year.”
