[homeles_ot-l] City budget - the quick summary

[Linda Lalonde]

Hi folks,
 
I was at Council to hear the 2012 budget being tabled. You will find the whole budget and other documents at www.ottawa.ca/budget2012. There is practically nothing for the social services area other than the continuation of things that were started last year or existed BW . 
 
Property taxes are going up by 2.39% which is slightly under the goal of 2.5% they have determined will be the case for the whole term of Council. Departmental budgets will go up by the 2.5% and another 2% to account for growth in the tax base i.e. new homes and businesses.
 
Transit fares will go up by 2.5%; recreation fees will continue to be frozen and the $14M housing/homelessness money is still there. I suppose it's a positive thing that there are no cuts in the social and community services - at least none that were publicly announced today. You may remember that in last year's budget there was no discussion of some of the reductions - it was up to us to find them ourselves. This budget is being presented the same way with the focus on the increased spending - can I say rah-rah-rah budgetting?
 
The big (and I mean big!!) thing in this budget is that there is a new program called "Ottawa on the Move" which is looking at moving a lot of capital spending forward to get it finished before the LRT comes along to "disrupt" the transportation system in the city. Over the next three years, they will complete $340M of infrastructure work to pay for which they will borrow $125M in 2012. $133M of this will go to re-surface 200 km of roads; there will be 70 km of new bike lanes; 20 km of repaired sidewalks; $12M to help build and maintain the existing cycling path network and the equivalent of 2,500 jobs over the three years.
 
The average urban home, now assessed at $304,800 (obviously not my place), will see their taxes increase by $75 and the average commercial establishment, assessed at $250,230, will have an increase of $112.  
 
This is just a quick overview of the budget and I will have a better breakdown later. The next steps are 4 public meetings:
 
Tues Nov 1, 7 - 9 Shenkman Arts Centre 245 Centrum Blvd, Orleans;
Wed Nov 2, 7:30 - 9:30, Holy Trinity High School, 180 Katimavik Rd, Kanata;
Thurs Nov 3, Rideauview Comm Centre, 4310 Shoreline Dr, Riverside South;
Fri Nov 4, 4 - 6, City Hall, 110 Laurier, Ottawa.
 
The standing committees will hear delegations and approve their sections of the budget on:
 
Mon Nov 7 - Finance & Economic Development;
Tues Nov 8 - Planning;
Thurs Nov 10 - Transportation;
Mon Nov 14 - Library Board;
Tues Nov 15 - Environment;
Wed Nov 16 - Transit Commission;
Thurs Nov 17 - Community & Protective Services;
Fri Nov 18 - Agriculture & Rural Affairs
Mon Nov 21 - IT Sub-committee;
Mon Nov 28 - Police Services
 
The Public Health Board already passed their budget on October 17th. Everything comes back to Council for final approval on November 30th. (BW = Before Watson.)
 
Linda.
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