A multitude of recent developments led to council approving minor adjustments to the 2023 budget on Tuesday, before this year's tax rate is finalized later this month.
The adjustments lower the 2023 tax rate to about 4.1 per cent, compared to the 4.6 per cent that was estimated last December when the budget was initially approved.
The adjustments included accounting for $416,000 more in revenue than expected from 2022 tax assessment growth, $104,000 of which will be used to off-set this year's property taxes.
About 55 per cent of last year's assessment growth, or $228,800, will be transferred to the city's growth stabilization reserve, council heard, which is used mainly for unanticipated funding requests that arise outside of the usual budget cycle. Another 20 per cent ($83,200) of the assessment growth will be transferred to the city's lifecycle reserves for repairing or maintaining city facilities and equipment.
Other budget adjustments include accounting for a $492,000 off-set in city operating costs stemming from a slight increase in provincial grant funding.
Despite the positive adjustments, council approved adding $788,800 to the 2023 budget to cover higher costs associated with city employee's worker's compensation (WCB) claims, and increased costs associated with the benefits provided to city employees through a third-party company.
“The (budget) increase ... is required due to higher costs of group benefits due to utilization and inflationary pressures, and elevated multi-year WCB premiums costs due to claims experience,” a report to council says.
Last December the Gazette reported that the city's WCB premiums are 23.5 per cent higher than the industry standard, or compared to other municipalities.
In 2022, first responders (firefighters and paramedics) employed by the city accounted for about 82 per cent of all WCB claims for city staff.
All budget adjustments were unanimously approved by council on May 2.
