(Posted 7:30 a.m., Jan. 29)
City council passes 3.77 per cent tax increase
By Fred Sherwin
Orléans Online

Ottawa homeowners can expect a 3.77 increase in their property taxes this year after Ottawa city council approved the 2010 operating and capital budget on Thursday. They can also expect a 7.5 per cent increase in bus fares beginning March 1 and a one per cent increase in their water and sewer bills.

The tax increase is slightly less than the 3.99 per cent that had been proposed coming out of the city's audit, budget and fianance committee and equates to an additional $138 on the average home assessed at $285,000.

Council was able to avoid having to pass a number of proposed cuts and service reductions by finding savings elsewhere in the budget. Among the items that were spared were the city's tree trimming and stump removal program, $3 million in proposed cuts and service reductions to OC Transpo routes and Crime Prevention Ottawa.

In order to offset the budget impact of reinstating the proposed cuts, council voted to defer a number of IT improvements for a savings of $935,000, and cancel $2 million in maintenance work on the south side stands at Lansdowne Park that will likely be torn done to make way for the park's redevelopment under the Lansdowne Live proposal.

They also deferred plans to expand the Green Bin program to medium density dwellings in 2010 for a further savings of $940,000, while increasing the water and sewer rate by one per cent allowed them to save another $735,000.

In the end the 2010 budget was passed by a vote of 22-2. Innes Ward Coun. Rainer Bloess and Kanata South Ward Coun. Peggy Feltmate were the lone dissenters.

Bloess said he couldn't support the budget because it veered away from sound long range financial planning practices by cancelling initiatives such as the two per cent infrastructure renewal surcharge which was introduced in 2008, and it imposed transit fare inceases that are nearly five times higher than the rate of inflation.

Council were unanimous in maintaining Crime Prevention Ottawa within the city's operating budget, but they were divided on a proposed 20 per cent cut in the program's budget. In the end, they decided to reinstate the proposed cut by a vote of 15-9.

Orleans Ward Coun. Bob Monette and Cumberland Ward Coun. Rob Jellett both voted in favour of the proposed cut despite hearing from dozens of people earlier in the week who said the program was making tremendous progress in reducing crime in a number of neighbourhoods.

Coun. Monette also voted against a motion to reinstate $200,000 in funding for the Case Management of Communicable Diseases, as well as a motion to introduce a special bus pass for university students as a pilot project.

Under the pilot program, which received the support of a majority on council, students at the University of Ottawa and Carleton University will be able to purchase a U-Pass for $145 per semester starting next September. The program is still dependent on the support of students who will have a chance to vote on both the cost of the pass and a proposal to add it to their tuition statements in referendums on both campuses.

The proposed cost is $20 more than students approved during a referenum at the University of Ottawa in February 2008, but still $97 less than the current Student Semester Pass.

The pilot project is being set up by the city to get a handle on just how popular it will be and how much it will end up costing the city if the U-Pass is expanded to the Ottawa's other post-secondary institutions. Any cost overun will be funded through transit reserves.

(This story was made possible thanks to thie generous support of our local business partners.)

Return to top

Return to Front Page