Council and staff in Prince Edward County pulled up their bootstraps and got to work on the 2020 budget at a special meeting on Tuesday night at Shire Hall.
PEC Chief Administrative Officer Marcia Wallace began the evening stating the overall budget impact is a decrease of 0.5% instead of 0.6% as originally stated.
The capital budget sat at $12.1 million and the property tax funded portion of the operating budget was $38.2 million heading into discussions.
Those around the horseshoe heard two deputations with financial asks of council as part of the budget discussions.
Stephen McCaffrey from University Hospitals Kingston Foundation made an ask of $80,000 annually for the next five years, while Prince Edward County Memorial Hospital Foundation Executive Director Shannon Coull said depending on when the provincial government gives the go ahead for stage three of the hospital build, the County may be asked for a $2.1 million.
She said if the government grants the approval in March, the municipality would need to have the funds by November. If the approval isn’t given until April, the funding isn’t needed until December. Coull called it a moving target.
Director of Finance Amanda Carter once again this year, reiterated the County has been completely under funding their reserves and the needs of Prince Edward County outweigh what is being put into the budget.
She noted operating revenues increased $1.5 million and expenditures also increased by $1.3 million.
Carter said she wants to be open and transparent with council in regards to what the municipality can and cannot afford.
Councillor Janice Maynard felt the municipality has been backed into a corner because they have not been properly funding their reserves for years now and wants to see this budget address long term capital needs.
Carter replied there is a part of the budget that contains projects that did not make it into the budget and as part of that, a roads reserve top up is included in that for council to vote on.
Mayor Steve Ferguson felt the overview of this year’s budget talks went well but they will once again have some hard decisions to make this year.
Ferguson says they knew previous councils had used reserve funds to help keep the impact on residents low and that is something they are dealing with again this year.
Councillors also looked at a report from Todd Davis, the Acting Director of the Community Development and Strategic Initiatives Department regarding funding requests.
Council voted in favour of the funding request of $40,000 for UHKF over 10 years with three councillors opposed.
They also supported funding requests of $20,000 to maintain food insecurity funding, as well as $25,290 for the Seniors Association’s Active Living Centres Program. This included $13,450 for operating funds and $11,840 in-kind for use of municipal facilities.
Council voted down a funding request for haul-out services at the Picton Marina at a cost of $12,000 and a request from the Prince Edward Learning Centre for $35,000.
Davis did recommend PECLC be directed to the Municipal Community Grants program over $5,000 with their funding request.
Councillor Maynard said there is value in the Learning Centre and she didn’t want to see their momentum stopped. She felt comfortable making the recommendation to defer the group to the grant process because it is “robust and well funded”.
Davis told council the limit on a grant request as part of the Grants over $5,000 program is $60,000, meaning the funding request falls within the grant limit.
Following the additions, it added $85,290 to the budget on Tuesday night, making the total operating cost $38.4 million.
Ferguson said they don’t have a set number in mind when it comes to what the final budget numbers will be and it will be worked out through the week.
Budget discussions continue on Wednesday in council chambers at Shire Hall at 9 a.m.
