A proposed $400-plus tax-rate increase that was facing Innisfil residents in 2025 won’t come to fruition. But just how much the bill will go up remains to be seen.
Innisfil council ended two days of budget deliberations without reaching a conclusion on how it will bankroll the next two years of operating and capital expenses. But they did agree on one thing in the eyes of Mayor Lynn Dollin.
“Something’s gotta give,” she said to her colleagues. “I don’t think there’s anyone sitting at this table that thinks where we are is what we’re going to send out to the residents.”
They were facing increases of 8.05 per cent in 2025 and 7.16 per cent in 2026, translating to nearly $404.97 extra for the average property owner in Innisfil next year and $389.45 the year after. Those numbers jumped by .64 per cent and .27 per cent since the budget was first presented to councillors at their Nov. 13 meeting.
The nearly $875,000 in extra spending over the next two years was largely due to the difference between the estimated increase in the South Simcoe Police Service (SSPS) budget, which came in about five points higher than staff predicted for next year.
A larger ask than in previous years, the budget increase for the police is the result of changing demographics and provincial regulations, councillors were told. The Community Safety and Policing Act has a “major impact” on the budget, SSPS Chief John Van Dyke said during the Dec. 4 deliberations.
The new provincial rules resulted in approximately $500,000 in new funding, including three new positions. Nine more officers are being hired this year to ensure the community is adequately protected with on-the-ground response.
It’s just the start, Van Dyke said. At least four officers must be hired annually to maintain the status quo; five or six each year would be optimum.
“With increased growth comes an increase in call for service and serious crime. It has already started, and we need to be ready,” said Chris Gariepy, chair of the Bradford West Gwillimbury-Innisfil Police Services Board.
Police salaries are expensive, Van Dyke admitted, because the work is “hard, it’s dangerous and it matters to our community.” Gariepy called the service “tremendous value for the money.”
But it’s money that council really can’t do anything about. SSPS is not a committee of council nor a department of the town. While it’s not as simple as handing the municipality a bill — a notion used frequently in past debates about disbanding the local police service and bringing in the Ontario Provincial Police — short of passing a motion to call on the SSPS to reconsider its budget, the town is handcuffed.
The money would have to come from other sources. During the Dec. 6 meeting, the mayor said she also believed her colleagues wanted to find a solution that balanced protecting current residents and avoiding a precarious future for the town.
“I also know we all agree that we don’t want to steal the future,” Dollin said. “We don’t want to sit here, use all the reserves, make ourselves look good and ‘good luck, council 2026 and beyond.’”
Dollin thought the best course of action would be to utilize money from the additional revenue source reserve (the dividend supplied by Ontario Lottery and Gaming for being the host community of Georgian Downs and Gateway Casinos) or an equivalent to the projected 2024 surplus to smooth out the 2025 budget.
All town departments — and partners such as the SSPS or the conservation authorities — would then be tasked with finding savings in 2026, which would be brought forward for council consideration next fall.
Other councillors proposed more drastic action.
Coun. Fred Drodge knew exactly where money could be found to support residents in 2025 and 2026: the town’s Property Tax Rate Stabilization Reserve.
Estimated to be worth about $5.4 million at the end of the year, Drodge proposed taking out about $3 million from the fund, split equally each year, which would knock about 1.56 per cent off the increases in 2025 and 2026.
The motion, which was wordsmithed by staff, called for the stabilization reserve to maintain a balance of at least $2 million. He suggested that the money used for these budgets could be replenished over the next two years and utilized by the next council for the 2027-2028 budgets.
Dollin wondered where that figure came from.
“In my opinion, it’s a reasonable number to have. (It’s the) tax stabilization reserve; it’s not a capital reserve, so I don’t feel like it needs to have a huge balance,” Drodge said. “This isn’t just about getting down the tax levy; it’s a reserve that I think has too much money in it.
“It’s taxpayers’ money – that’s how it got in there – and we have a high budget,” he added.
Drodge found an ally in Deputy Mayor Kenneth Fowler. He called on his colleagues to take a “calculated risk.”
“We keep on talking about 10 years down road … what we’re doing right now is trying to buy time while we plan for 10 years,” Fowler said. “You cannot tell me that the employment lands will not have servicing. You can’t tell me that businesses will not take root in Innisfil.”
Fowler sees people who want to invest in Innisfil and bring new businesses to town. It will not be another decade of subdivision growth and little else.
He disagreed with Coun. Alex Waters's notion that such a move would be “kicking the can down the road.”
“We’re kicking the can down the road, yes, but further down the road, we are going to have businesses to help supplement the income; we are going to have businesses that will create jobs,” the deputy mayor said. “So, it’s not like we’re just kicking the can down the road and praying to God that things are going to be OK. We have a plan and a means to supplement that income.”
Dollin got short with her colleague as the meeting waned in the late afternoon, telling Fowler he oversimplified things.
“I couldn’t disagree more that you’re thinking long-term,” she said. “I think you’re thinking, ‘get this tax rate down and to hell with the future.’”
Most councillors were keen to try to solve the problem before going to the tax rate stabilization reserve. Drodge’s initial motion was deferred to the end of the meeting so items set aside throughout the two days could be debated and possibly deleted from the budget.
Ultimately, only one capital project — a new float for the town to use in the Santa Claus parade — was axed, although others remain hanging in the balance, following a motion put forward by Coun. Jennifer Richardson.
Staff at one point asked councillors for direction to be given on what the specific increase should be. Richardson’s proposal was for 5.5 per cent, which Drodge immediately called “too high.”
“I’d like to go lower,” Richardson retorted.
That motion was wordsmithed, too, providing the 5.5 figure as a target.
When his motion was finally discussed again, Drodge said passing Richardson’s motion made his essential.
“In light of Coun. Richardson’s comments on trying to get the tax rate down to 5.5 or lower and to Coun. (Kevin) Eisses' comment saying that he doesn’t want to change the quality of our service, I think we have no choice but to support this motion to give staff the slightest chance at getting it down to 5.5,” Drodge said.
Dollin wasn’t convinced.
“It’s moot at this point,” the mayor said. “We’ve already given them direction to get there, and how they get there will come back to us, and we can debate.”
Drodge’s motion passed. The budget will return to council for discussion at a Jan. 15 meeting.
