City council ratified the 2025 municipal budget on Monday, which carries a tax increase of 2.51 per cent – a hike of around $101 for the average assessed home in Orillia.
When budget deliberations came to a close in November, the projected tax hike stood at 5.42 per cent, but a few developments in recent weeks led to that figure dropping by nearly three full percentage points by the time council gathered to ratify the budget on Monday.
The city faced significant pressure from external service providers this year, such as the OPP and County of Simcoe, who brought increased budgetary demands that accounted for 5.04 per cent of the projected tax hike.
However, the provincial government recently announced $77 million in funding to help small and rural municipalities deal with budgetary hikes from the OPP, with Orillia receiving $1.65 million – ultimately offsetting the tax hike by 2.26 per cent for 2025, city staff said.
The city also saw a further .27 per cent drop to the tax levy after receiving unanticipated government funding for implementing phase three of the ‘next generation 911’ communication services.
“The fire chief wasn't sure on the probability of success on phase three,” said John Henry, city CFO/treasurer. “As a result of that, there were some items in the operating budget that we could offset, which is about $200,000.”
Finally, the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC) initially forecasted about $850,000 in assessment growth for the city, which was recently amended to just over $1.1 million, bringing the tax hike down a further .38 per cent.
At the beginning of budget deliberations in November, a 6.94 per cent tax increase was anticipated for 2025, with city council whittling its own contribution to the hike to .38 per cent – for a total of 5.42 per cent – through ensuing budget discussions.
Council made some creative decisions — like deferring funding slated for the city’s affordable housing reserve this year – in order to lower its own contribution to the 2025 tax hike.
