The City of Markham has begun the Committee work and public consultation phase of preparing the 2023 Annual Budget. This phase would normally begin earlier, in late September, however due to the Municipal Election in October this phase is deferred until after the new Council is in place.
If you’re not familiar with what the Markham budget is, or how it is prepared, below is an informative video that explains bot the process and some of the major components.
For the last 4 years I have had the role of Budget Committee Vice-Chair, working alongside Budget Chair Councillor Amanda Collucci. For the next 4 years I’m honoured to have been appointed Budget Chair, and I’m looking forward to working with newly appointed Budget Vice-Chair Councillor Isa Lee.
Over the past few months the Ontario Provincial Government has introduced several legislative changes that are aimed to accelerate the delivery of housing units across the province. It is hoped an increased supply in housing along with decreased development fees and administrative burdens will lead to a more stable and affordable housing market. At the same time, these new changes will put an additional burden on Municipal finances by removing some of the infrastructure funding that had traditionally come from new developments. In particular, Bill 23 will make the provision of land for municipal parks much more difficult. You can read more about the Province’s plans here:
The first public meeting for the 2023 City of Markham Budget was held on January 27th. Below is an excerpt from my opening remarks as Budget Chair:
While the public consultation phase of this budget cycle is just beginning, Markham Staff have been working very hard for many months to once again present a budget that not only maintains existing servicing levels but in some cases, enhances our service levels.
The 2023 Budget continues to fulfill the City’s strategic goal of fiscal stewardship of money and resources. It’s a budget that not only delivers on the needs of our community today but ensures we are planning and saving for the future. It’s a fiscally responsible budget that preserves our high quality of facilities and services to ensure Markham continues to be a vibrant, successful and sustainable city.
We have a series of budget meetings scheduled in the coming weeks. Our goal is to finalize the budget for 2023 in March.
As was presented in the Special General Committee Meeting on January 23rd, the 2023 Budget includes elements that fulfill the City’s strategic goal of fiscal stewardship of money and resources. It’s a budget that delivers on the needs of our community today, ensures we are planning and saving for the future to preserve our high quality of facilities and services, and ensures Markham continues to be a vibrant, successful and sustainable city.
In the wake of 30 year highs in inflation, a looming recession, and unprecedented legislative changes, the City’s proposed tax rate of 6.4% represents a combination of fiscally prudent and strategic planning as well as forward-looking conservative provisioning for major funding challenges that lie ahead, particularly from the Bill 23 “More Homes Built Faster Act” that was passed by the Province in late 2022.
The proposed increase of 6.4% includes four components:
- a 1.9% increase to support our day-to-day operations
- the continuation of the 0.6% infrastructure investment, and
- 9% to fund the 2022 budget shortfall, which was deferred to provide residents with a 0% property tax rate increase in 2021
- 0% for Provincial surcharges related to Bill 23
This would result in a $83 property tax increase to an average residential property valued at $830,000.
The City’s proposed 2023 Capital Budget totals $222.0 million and includes investments in new parks, continuation of the flood control program and infrastructure renewal to maintain our assets in a state of good repair. The staff presentation will provide highlights of the 2023 capital projects in more detail and the next two meetings will be covering the review of the 2023 Capital submissions by exception. Before the review of the 2023 Capital budget begins, it should be noted that less than 1% of the projects being brought forward are funded directly through tax so eliminating or deferring projects will not have a direct impact on the proposed 2023 tax increase, although it could have longer term impacts/implications.
The City’s proposed 2023 primary Operating Budget totals $260.3 million and it supports the delivery of a wide range of programs and services including roads, bridges and sidewalk maintenance, fire and emergency services, parks and sports fields maintenance, waste and recycling collection, recreation and library services and many other important services. The review of the 2023 Operating budget is set to take place at Budget Committee Meeting #4 scheduled for February 15th.
One of the contributing factors to our success in keeping tax rate increases as low as possible is our Excellence through Efficiency and Effectiveness initiative, also known as E3. Since its implementation in 2009, we have identified operational savings and revenue enhancements totaling $32.6 million to date, equivalent to a 26% tax rate avoidance that would otherwise have been paid by our residents every year.
As Budget Chief, I believe the proposed budget prepared by Staff not only addresses the needs of the community for today but also ensures a sustainable future for our City while maintaining a competitive property tax rate increase.
I look forward to a full discussion of the operating and capital budgets with Committee members.
In addition, I encourage residents and business owners to stay informed and to attend a budget meeting, either online or in-person. For more information on the 2023 Budget, visit our website markham.ca/budget.
The 2023 Markham Budget will be finalized in April. If you’d like to follow along with the budget consultation proceedings or provide some comments, please visit the Budget website at the following link: