Lakeshore Council Approves Draft Budget

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Lakeshore council has approved the draft 2022 Budget last night, with a 2.4 increase.

Council deliberated on budget items throughout meetings on Tuesday and Wednesday. The initial increase of 2.64% was reduced by eliminating unfilled roles and new requests for staff, workforce development initiatives, as well as funds for Council training and utility locate services.

Council also increased capital project funding with the addition of $1 million towards the Gravel Roads Conversion program and $700,000 towards the Lifecycle Asphalt Road Resurfacing Program. An additional $350,000 was also dedicated to transfers to the Roads Reserve.

“As a Council, we know that many of our community members and business owners have had a difficult couple of years dealing with the pandemic. With that in mind, we sought to reduce the budget’s impact on taxpayers wherever we could,” said Mayor Tom Bain. “Council and Administration did a fantastic job of balancing our strategic priorities, maintaining service levels, and increasing capital spending all in the face of unprecedented circumstances. Thank you to my colleagues around the table and all of our staff who contributed to this process.”

Additional budget highlights include $53.6 million in operating expenditures with an estimated $17.1 million in offsetting revenue from grants, user fees, and investment returns and $19 million in capital project spending, including:

• $675,000 for Roads Surface Treatment Program
• $100,000 towards sidewalk replacements
• $152,000 for stormwater pump station monitoring systems, $90,000 for a new high-capacity emergency dewatering pump and $38,000 for storm and sanitary sewer modelling software
• $612,000 for watermain replacement on Comber Side Road
• $870,000 for Engineering and Design for Puce Road, Major Street and Lilydale Avenue and $1,800,000 for Puce Road Reconstruction
• $67,500 for the community visioning and design process of the Stoney Point Park and multi-use community hub facility
• $250,000 for improvements to St. Clair Shores Park
• $150,000 to update the Transportation Master Plan
• $10,000 for additional tree planting in Maidstone Park
• $115,000 for the replacement of playground structure in Stoney Point Park
• $929,000 for a new fire truck and two command unit vehicles
• $221,500 for technology, personnel, and other requirements to carry out the 2022 Municipal Election