Between now and April 2, the folks on Oro-Medonte Township council will wade through thousands of bytes of information as they try to pull together a budget that will meet residents’ needs without breaking the bank.
It’s not going to be a cakewalk.
At the township’s most recent council meeting, Shawn Binns, chief administrative officer, and Shannon Johnson, chief financial officer, shared with council a long list of challenges the township is facing as it heads into budget preparation for 2025-2026, including the growth of the township’s neighbours, Barrie and Orillia, and growth throughout the township, in Craighurst, Horseshoe Valley, Eagle’s Rest, Eagle’s Landing and Warminster.
The township is also dealing with the challenges of appropriate staffing levels, staff compensation, Information Technology adoption and connectivity, updates to fees and charges, legacy legal issues (cannabis, STRs), the impacts of climate change and uncertain economic conditions.
“Not surprisingly, probably the biggest part of our budget is salaries and benefits,” Binns said during his budget preparation presentation last week. “Our people are the critical ingredient in delivering quality service.
“We will continue to build on recruitment, development and retention,” Binns added.
According to Binns, the township’s collective agreement with its unionized employees ends in 2025 and that will be a major area of focus for management.
He said staff will provide township council with an overview of the salary compensation policy and market review that is currently underway.
Binns noted he had a particular concern with the township’s fire and emergency services.
“Another significant challenge, particularly for community services and fire and emergency services, is the continuity and sustainability of our volunteer service model that’s heavily reliant on dedicated volunteers to provide service on behalf of the municipality,” he said.
While it was a hot topic for a couple of weeks, the proposed increase from the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) for 2025 has been reduced from $659,000 — a 23 per cent increase — to $151,000, a modest-by-comparison increase of five per cent.
According to the presentation document, the province plans to review the OPP billing model and despite the relief, base service costs will rise in 2026, adding budget pressure. The OPP billing model does not provide a mechanism to reconcile paid duty and calls for service reporting which is resulting in duplication of cost, and costs borne by the township related to large scale special events like those held at Burl’s Creek. The township continues to advocate for changes to the billing model to address this and sustainability of policing costs.
One area where the township is looking to make gains is in IT.
According to Binns, the township has placed a lot of emphasis on technology over the past couple of years.
“Technology really is core to improving our service,” Binns said. “We’ve invested quite heavily over the last number of years to be able to get systems to be able to help us be able to do our jobs more efficiently and effectively.”
He ran through a list of IT initiatives and improvements:
- Dynamics 365 Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) has been integrated to unify various business functions such as finance, property tax, utility billings and procurement;
- Cloud Permit has revolutionized the application submission process for Building, Planning and Municipal Law Enforcement matters allowing for on-line provision of services across three divisions;
- Automatic data processing (ADP) has been adopted to manage HR, payroll, talent, time, tax, and benefits administration;
- Perfect Mind is used to manage memberships, schedule activities, and automate billing for parks and recreation, fitness, and education sectors;
- MESH work order system is a software solution for managing work orders and assets. It streamlines task creation, assignment, and tracking, supports mobile access, and integrates with other tools;
- Material controllers/ advanced fleet telematics used in operations fleet allows for route optimization, material application and risk management;
- Laserfiche has been implemented to ensure the systematic control of records throughout their lifecycle;
- Honk Mobile has been introduced to simplify parking management. Through this mobile app, users can obtain resident and nonresident parking;
- ArcGIS is a comprehensive geographic information system (GIS) software that enables users to create, manage, analyze, and visualize spatial data. It supports detailed mapping and visualization, spatial analysis, data management, real-time field data collection, and collaboration through sharing maps and data.
Binns and Johnson’s presentation wasn’t all about the challenges — there were a couple of bright lights, particularly when it comes to insurance, township revenue, user fees and grants.
According to the presentation:
- Oro-Medonte brings in about 17 per cent of all revenue through user fees;
- Oro-Medonte’s assessment growth in 2025 increased by $76.5 million compared to 2024. This growth in property assessments added $407,203 to the Township’s revenues;
- Simcoe County has created a municipal insurance pool, which will allow for insurance coverage to be consolidated under a single agreement. It’s anticipated that subscribing to the municipal insurance pool will save Oro-Medonte about $800,000 over a five-year period;
- Oro-Medonte will receive almost $1.5 million from the Ontario Municipal Partnership Fund (OMPF) in 2025, an increase of $116,000 over 2024;
- The township will also receive $533,000 from the Ontario Community Infrastructure Fund (OCIF), an increase of almost $70,000 from 2024;
- Oro-Medonte will also continue to receive money from the Federal Gas Tax Fund (GTF), which is used for township road projects. The Township's confirmed total allocation for 2024 through 2028 is $3,799,201.
Here is the timeline for Oro-Medonte Township’s 2025-2026 budget process:
- Feb 6: Special Council meeting: Capital Budget – Time sensitive projects and budget reports.
- Feb 21: 2025-2026 capital and operating budget packages distributed as part of Feb 26 agenda
- Feb 26: 2025-2026 capital and operating budget presentation to Council.
- Feb 27: Virtual site open for public comments
- Mar 3: 2025-2026 budget open house Moonstone Fire Hall •
- Mar 4: 2025-2026 budget open house Township Office •
- Mar 6: Deadline for public comments & virtual site closed •
- Mar 28: Final Draft Budget Posted distributed as part of April 2 agenda •
- Apr 2: Special Council Meeting: 2025-2026 Budget final review, approval, and formal adoption.
