The Order of Orillia, transit electrification, development charges, residential tax ratios, and more are set for discussion at Monday’s city council meeting, which is scheduled for 2 p.m. in the council chamber at the Orillia City Centre.
The full meeting agenda may be found here.
Order of Orillia
To kick off the meeting, Mayor Don McIsaac and Chuck Penny, chair of the commemorative awards selection panel, will present the 2024 Order of Orillia awards.
Addictions treatment and prevention campaign
Georgian College students from the addictions treatment and prevention program will give a presentation on an addictions prevention and education campaign.
As opioid overdoses and deaths skyrocketed through the pandemic, the students argue stigma and a lack of education surrounding mental health issues and addictions contribute to these numbers.
The ‘Addiction is not a choice campaign’ hopes to educate people about signs and symptoms of addiction through connection and understanding, with the presentation materials highlighting 95 per cent of those who live with mental health or substance use disorders reported issues with stigma in the past five years.
Closed session
City council will discuss four reports in closed session, three of which have to do with property.
Politicians will discuss options for property located on Front Street South, a land purchase offer, and a potential property of interest.
The fourth report deals with a staffing matter.
Closed-session discussions are closed to the public and the media.
Transit electrification study
City staff have recommended more than doubling the budget for an ongoing transit electrification study, which, if approved by council, would raise its cost from $60,000 to $125,000.
Originally approved as part of the 2023 budget, the study aims to put together a full fleet electrification plan, as well as provide site assessment of a future Orillia Transit facility and route modelling and schedule optimization.
Though the study is eligible for an 80 per cent funding subsidy from Infrastructure Canada’s Zero Emission Transit Fund, no decision has been made on whether the city will receive funding for the study.
Treasurer’s statement on development charges
Staff will present a report on the state of the city’s development charge reserve fund, which currently sits at $22 million in the negative.
The staff report states the reserve is “in a negative position largely due to pre-spending on construction projects before growth materialized,” with regard to roads, water and wastewater servicing, parks, and other projects.
Staff also report Bill 23, the More Homes Built Faster Act, had a substantially negative impact on development charge revenue in 2023, with $1.88 million lost in development charge revenue over the course of the year — exceeding the $1.5 million set aside in the city’s Bill 23 mitigation reserve fund.
According to the city’s preliminary 10-year capital forecast, it’s estimated the development charge reserve will be in a positive position between 2030 and 2032.
“The city will need to continue looking at strategies to reduce this position, such as project timing, debt financing and front-end funding arrangements,” the report states.
In 2023, $5.8 million in collections were transferred to the development charge reserve fund.
Residential tax ratios
Council will discuss the city’s property tax ratios, which affect how much residents and businesses pay in taxes for various types of properties.
Municipalities are granted some flexibility with tax ratios for different property types within the provincial tax policy, subject to a prescribed range of fairness, but city staff have recommended against any changes to the current ratios.
The 2023 ratios for various property types are as follows:
- Residential — $1,303 per $100,000 in assessed value, with an increase of $23 per $100,000 in assessed value for 2024 due to this year’s 1.73 per cent tax levy increase
- Multi-residential — $1,795 per $100,000 in assessed value, with an increase of $32 for 2024
- Industrial and excess/vacant industrial — $2,400 per $100,000 in assessed value, with an increase of $42 in 2024
- Commercial (small business) and excess/vacant commercial — $2,032 per $100,000 in assessed value, with an increase of $34 in 2024
Due to new growth in the city, the property tax base grew by nearly $1 million between the start of 2023 and 2024, from $ 69,885,082 to $70,878,284.
Household food insecurity, gender-based violence
Council will consider lending the city’s support on two resolutions calling for action by the provincial government.
A resolution by the Association of Local Public Health Agencies, supported by the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit, calls on the province to use food affordability monitoring results from public health units in determining the adequacy of social assistance rates.
The resolution also calls on the province to index Ontario Works assistance rates to inflation moving forward, highlighting 67 per cent of households on Ontario Works and the Ontario Disability Support Program experience food insecurity.
The second resolution, originally passed by the Town of Bracebridge, calls on the province to declare gender-based violence an epidemic, given its exponential increase through the COVID-19 pandemic — which has not decreased.
If passed, the city will send copies of its own resolutions to the appropriate provincial officials.
