Kingston, Ont., is taking a hard look at its financial future as city leaders scramble to close potential budget gaps in the coming years. From finding cost savings to exploring new ways to bring in revenue, the council is now asking staff to dig into options.
On Tuesday night, the city council voted unanimously to have staff explore a number of options to help address those long-term budget strains. They include seeking new revenue streams and cost recovery measures along with examining the potential for utility corporations in areas such as water, wastewater and other non-essential services.
“Everything we presented last night, I’d say is a snapshot of all municipalities in Ontario,” said city treasurer Desiree Kennedy. “We are not unique in this Kingston. These are challenges that are across the board, across the province.”
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Kennedy warned that if left unaddressed, mounting financial pressures will begin to rear their heads over the next decade and beyond.
“It’s still business as usual in the city today, but it’s really about looking at our fiscal outlook over the next 10-15 years and what that would potentially look like and as we laid out last night, a lot of challenges that we see coming.”
Mayor Bryan Paterson says it’s about making sure city resources are used as effectively as possible.
“We’re also looking at our existing assets, our buildings, our properties,” Paterson said. “Do we need all of them? Are they being used effectively? Are there some ways we might want to look at either selling a building or property, or maybe repurposing it into something that better meets the needs of the city?”
Paterson says municipalities are taking on more and more responsibility in areas like health care and social support, services that were once primarily funded by the province.
“There’s an increasing amount of our city’s budget that goes to health care, whether it’s recruiting family physicians, whether it’s investing in support to deal with the ongoing mental health and addiction crisis,” Paterson said. “So the cost pressures that we’re seeing as a municipality are only increasing.”
Despite these challenges, the mayor says the city will continue to try to limit the impact on taxpayers.
“Because we know people are tired. So the commitment I’ve had as mayor is that property tax increases in Kingston should be among the lowest of other large cities in Ontario, and that’s a commitment we’ve held for the last two years and I think it’s important to continue.”
City staff is expected to report back with recommendations on those options within the next six months.
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