Bruce County approves 2018 budget with 3.27% increase

Bruce County’s corporate services committee has approved the county's 2018 budget with a 3.27-per-cent increase.

“I am pleased with the results of the budget deliberations," said warden Mitch Twolan. "We have approved a budget for 2018 that invests in infrastructure and in services for people in need who call Bruce County home. The increase of 3.27 per cent is before assessment growth and requires a net levy of $44,841,399.”

The review was extensive and the committee studied the following documents:
 

• Draft operating budget
• Draft capital budgets
• Staff report of the 2018 consolidated budget.

The 2018 tax rates will be based on the new assessment and phased-in assessment adjustments to be announced later this year. Given the investments in prior budgets, there is confidence that the assessment growth will outperform the historical one-per-cent increase, further reducing the impact to the taxpayer.

This budget recognizes the following:
 

• An investment in affordable housing and the county’s Infrastructure, injecting a 6.67-per-cent increase of 650,000 new dollars into capital
• Operations being maintained at 2.27 per cent
• The long-term goals of Bruce County will be met through:
  • The investment in people resources with additional head-counts in human resources, library and museum
  • The recognition of the need to shift to new collaborative technologies with the implementation of BruceWorX, which includes tools to activate a highly-collaborative, efficient and flexible working environment across the organization

Chief administrative officer Kelley Coulter complimented her team and said It requires collaboration, dedication and hard work to explore all options to recommend a budget for approval.

"The budget focuses on technological innovation and solutions in our service delivery model," she said. "Staff delivered a combined budget of 3.27 per cent, comprised of a 2.27-per-cent increase in operations and a 6.67-per-cent increase for capital, while still investing in our programs. That's a major achievement.”

An overview of the budget is available on the Bruce County website at: www.brucecounty.on.ca