With 2024 nearing its halfway point, town staff in Innisfil have started thinking about the next budget.
Council received information about the schedule and process for the 2025-26 budget at its April 24 meeting, continuing its precedent to complete the budget for the municipality in two-year increments. It will be the first full budget cycle under a strong mayor system, which has added some complexities to the process.
“The process you will see is very similar to how we’ve done it in the past (but) there is the added nuance of the strong mayor legislation which we are complying to,” Mike Melinyshyn, the town's chief financial officer, told council at its April 24 meeting. “We are trying to follow the same process with full council engagement and inclusions, and have those discussions, open conversations and debate.”
For the process to begin, Mayor Lynn Dollin had to “direct” staff to prepare the 2025-26 budget, which happened in mid-April. That budget will be delivered to the rest of council and residents of the municipality by Nov. 13, with a question-and-answer session to be scheduled with councillors in the days to follow. Two days of council deliberations on the budget are set for Dec. 4 and 6, with final approval by Jan. 15, 2025.
There is a lot of work ahead of staff in the next six months before the budget documents are revealed for the first time.
Before staff can determine how much it will cost to run operations for the town, the user fees and charges bylaw needs to be updated, which happens at least every two years.
“(It) is typically completed in advance of the full budget process, as it is used to inform the revenues within the operating budget,” staff stated in its report to council. “It is also beneficial to have these fees established well in advance so that user groups have sufficient time to incorporate these changes into their planning documents and fee structures.”
Council is expected to discuss the proposed changes at its June 5 meeting.
Two main components make up the two-year budget: the operating budget and the 10-year capital plan.
The operating budget looks at the day-to-day needs of the community, from staffing to park beautification. Increases to the municipal portion of a tax increase — exclusive of police, education and county taxes — often are made up of the increases to an operating budget, such as wage increases and infrastructure repairs.
And just as inflation has wreaked havoc on families, particularly in the past 1.5 years, it is expected to loom large over the budget process.
“Inflation continues to significantly impact the town’s budgets,” the staff report indicated. “Although inflation is reducing, and (consumer price index) is expected to be closer to two per cent for 2025 and 2026, there is still significant adjustments required to bring existing budgets in line with actual costs and the impacts of inflation over the past couple of years.”
The 10-year capital plan consists of a 2025-26 capital budget and an eight-year forecast for asset renewal and growth.
What staff cannot do at the outset is accurately predict what the property tax increase might be for residents over the next two years. The impact of external factors — the items that make up the blended tax rate which the town cannot control — are more difficult to predict this year than previously, but staff is committed to ensuring “all options have been explored to mitigate costs and optimize revenues.”
Innisfil staff has a challenging task in front of it and Melinyshyn was blunt.
“There are significant pressures,” he said, highlighting wages and asset management as issues staff will be contending with in developing the budget, not to mention stickhandling through changes to provincial legislation and the amount of money collected through development charges.
But the budget is also a “balancing act,” he said, as highlighted through other examples he provided. While Innisfil may be a “high-growth community” and needs to ensure its service levels are adequate or greater to meet the needs of its residents, growth this year is trending lower than expected, which could impact the tax levy and ultimately how much extra each property owner can expect to see on their bill over the next two years.
The town plans to keep the public informed through traditional and social media and up-to-date information on the town’s website.
