By Lindsey Cole
The Oshawa Express

To some councillors any tax increase is a bad increase.
But to the majority of council, the fact city staff was able to get an increase down to 0.9 per cent is a feat in itself.
This means, based on a $250,000 home in the city, the taxpayer will be adding $13.34 to their property tax bill.
On Friday, after hours of discussion, council passed the budget with only Councillors John Neal and Robert Lutczyk voting against it.
Originally, city staff projected a 1.9 per cent tax increase or a $28 increase, but after re-examining some areas, staff was able to get that number down, says City Manager Bob Duignan.

But it does mean a stringent budget with little wiggle room.
“It’s going to require strict adherence. We must emphasize the city faces other challenges,” says Duignan, adding the low increase is due to reduced contributions to the city’s reserve funds which essentially helps fund certain projects for the city.
“Reduced reserve fund contributions, I stress, should only be temporary. Our reserve funds are certainly underfunded,” he explains.
In all, the city had a total of more than $2.7 million in savings in its core sectors, with reductions to various areas. This meant modifying the corporate capital envelope. To date, the city has received funding for eight projects totalling $33 million with $20 million being provided by the federal and provincial stimulus programs.
Through these projects, as well as through deferring other projects that require tax contributions, the city was able to save $600,000.

Salary and wage gapping – extending the time frame between hiring, giving out exit packages to nine staff members through a staff rationalization program, various audits and energy savings also contributed to large reductions in the budget.
According to a staff report, during council’s term the budget increases were amongst the lowest in the Greater Toronto Area with a savings of $20 million overall.
However, other challenges may plague the city in 2010, the city manager warns, including increased labour costs, funding for upgrades or replacements of operations and environmental service depots, ice rationalization, and several major infrastructure projects like the GO Transit extension and the Hwy. 407 expansion.
“We’ve been creative but responsible,” Duignan told council, adding another reason for only a 0.9 per cent increase was because of winter maintenance savings of $276,000 to date in 2010.
The winter simply hasn’t been that bad, he says.
“We budget on the basis of a three to five year period. I mentioned to you a lot of challenges and if they are not managed there will be an increase,” he says. 
Before the budget was passed some residents and councillors did have their say.
Areas of concern revolved around accountability and transparency and a zero per cent increase.

“I don’t believe my input will find its way into the budget,” says Tamara Morahan, adding she was hoping the document would be more open to the public.
For Bruce Wood the educational policy, property taxes and the Cullen Miniatures (which were not included in the budget) were areas that needed to be addressed.

As president of the Oshawa Ratepayers Association, he says he recently had several seniors ask him about reverse mortgages because they don’t think they can’t afford their homes.
”I think that’s emblematic of the times,” he says, adding there should be no increase whatsoever.
Councillor John Henry was quick to point out that a budget is also based on forecasting into the future.
“There is a difference between reactionary budgeting and being proactive,” he says.
“I think the members at this table today have to be proactive for tomorrow.”
Wood also felt that the $9,200 given to April Cullen as an educational reimbursement for her master’s degree should not be put on the taxpayer directly. Mayor John Gray’s assistant James Anderson is also getting his master’s degree with the city and the mayor approved that funding.
“Is that necessary?” he asks.
And council, in part, agreed with Wood’s concerns.
They moved a motion to place Cullen’s $9,200 under council expenditures instead of in the educational portion, which is under the corporate envelope. This was in the hope of reflecting exactly where the money is going.
Overall council commended staff for a job well done on the budget.
“Obviously there was a great deal of effort put in by staff and council,” says Councillor Tito-Dante Marimpietri, adding it was great to see a near balanced budget and the auditor general deserves credit for his work as well.
“By doing so, in the near future, we will be able to provide a tax rate that’s in line with other municipalities. I think there is still room for improvement. We have to continue to foster in the university and the healthcare system.”
“I’m sitting here stunned,” says Councillor Nester Pidwerbecki.
“This is a job well done,” adds Councillor April Cullen, though she did ask staff if a huge storm comes, would that mean an increase in winter maintenance costs, which was one reason for such a low tax increase.
Duignan says they have already saved enough money to account for any increase in services should winter rear its ugly head.
However, some councillors say the fact there is an increase at all is too much.
“You can adhere to a zero per cent (tax levy), but if you want to do that council is going to have to give us some assistance,” Duignan says. “We’ve presented a lean budget.”
Councillor Neal says it isn’t enough.
“I can’t see an increase this year at all. I think we could have taken it down further. The GM Centre and the miniatures are still out there treading water. I think it should have been zero. I know we have to keep things going...you have to kind of wonder where all that taxpayers money is going,” he says.
Mayor John Gray says he is cautiously optimistic.
“I was pleased and a little bit worried that it’s going to leave us a little tight,” he says, adding he doesn’t want to see the taxpayer slammed next year.
“They (staff) have given us the assurances. In the long term it’s about the trend. It’s not just about today. We’ve made it very tight because we have a contingency of $100,000,” he says.
“This is the lowest tax increase in this decade.”
Mayor Gray says the region does still have to approve its budget, which means the overall tax rate may be higher but that is because the city collects 40 per cent, the region collects 40 per cent and education is allotted 20 per cent of the taxes. The tax rate for 2009 was 1.76, he says, adding Oshawa’s official tax rate probably won’t be announced until April.