City council gets its first opportunity to review the proposed 2025 operating and capital budgets at Monday’s (Dec. 9) meeting.
Unless there are some major concessions or creative pencil sharpening, we will not be blessed next year with a budget sporting an increase of less than three per cent over this year.
Next year’s proposed levy is almost $74.5 million, up from shy of $69 million this year, an 8.13 per cent increase.
Factor in the estimated additional growth-related tax of 3.2 per cent and ratepayers are looking at a 4.93 per cent hike to the municipal tax levy next year.
City treasurer Dan Sheridan advises, “The 2025 operating budget has been a challenge, the high rate of inflation along with the need for additional resources due to growth and development have resulted in a proposed levy increase that is higher than in previous years.”

Whether it is reassuring or not, the original budget would have seen a 12 per cent levy increase.
That was avoided through cost-cutting measures and dipping into reserves to the tune of $1 million.
Sheridan notes, “The use of reserve funds doesn’t erase the large increase but it allows the city to realize a modest tax increase in 2025 and offset the increases in 2026 where fewer pressures are expected.”

We’ll file that away for reference at this time next year.
For 2025, staff is predicting an additional $130 million in assessment growth, equating to about $2.2 million in additional property taxes.
“If the actual growth amount differs from the estimate,” assures Sheridan, “the reserve contribution will be adjusted to hold the approved levy increase.”
Major factors impacting the operating budget are a hike of $2.3 million in wages and benefits due to contract increases and a $2.1 million bump in that same category as a result of new hires at city hall.
New borrowing costs add $610,000 to the proposed budget and the city has committed $400,000 to assist The INN with its operating budget next year.
In total, almost 24 full-time equivalent positions will be added to the payroll next year “to maintain the current level of service” in the city.
Scanning some of the city departments, the city clerk’s office is seeking an almost 19 per cent increase to its budget which will approach $760,000 next year.
The department will increase in size by one full-time equivalent position.
The Treasury, IT and Corporate Services Department budget will jump by just under 18 per cent next year to $9.7 million.
The lion’s share of the increase will be in Corporate Services due to “the repayment costs of the new debenture in 2024, 2025 contract negotiations and property tax write-offs and incentives.”
The Police Services budget will increase by just under 12 per cent and we wrote at length about this in October. You can read about the factors involved here.
The Planning Services budget will jump by 25.1 per cent to $1.4 million.
The Planning Department is responsible for providing a full range of land use planning functions and services on behalf of the City of St. Thomas and by agreement through the Central Elgin Planning Advisory Committee (CEPAC) to the Municipality of Central Elgin.

“This indicator shows that St Thomas has a higher debt per capita than the average for Ontario municipalities.”

The department notes, “We do not know what to expect for CEPAC and have reduced revenue by 50%.”
And Economic Development will see a 24 per cent in its budget to just over $1 million.
A new role will see it now support the downtown core in partnership with the Downtown Development Board with two new FTE positions created next year.
Of note, the fire services operating budget shows a modest increase of 3.1 per cent to $11.1 million. Its workforce will shrink by one to 61 FTE positions next year.
The recreation department will see its budget drop by almost 15 per cent to $1.5 million in 2025.
Looking at the capital budget, just under $50 million in expenditures are projected in the coming year.
Of that total, $11.5 million is earmarked for the Complete Streets program and next year’s projects include:

• Centre Street – Elgin Street to Stanley Street
• Forest Avenue – Ross Street to Fifth Avenue
• Smith Avenue – Wellington Street to Myrtle Street
• Chestnut Street – Third Avenue to First Avenue

A sum of $7 million is earmarked for Phase 1 of the Fairview Avenue rehabilitation project.
This will include the stretch of roadway from Talbot Street south to Warehouse Street and entail the removal of the bridge over the former CASO right-of-way.

” . . . it’s important that the city doesn’t incur any unnecessary debt during this time to maximize the municipal debt limit.”

A total of $11.3 million is budgeted for housing development and the long-delayed animal shelter for $4 million appears set to take shape next year.
Several critical takeaways from the budget report deal with the city’s debt load.
“The debt per person for St Thomas is $780 and the average for all municipalities is $720 per person.
“This indicator shows that St Thomas has a higher debt per capita than the average for Ontario municipalities. While this is higher than average it’s still reasonable when compared to municipalities in the high range.”
The budget report goes on to note, “While the City’s debt is relatively high, servicing this debt isn’t putting a large strain on the budget as our 2023 levy per capita is at $1,469, which is well below the average municipal levy at $1,865.
Here’s a cautionary note from Sheridan, alluded to earlier.
“The development of Yarmouth Yards (industrial park) will require St. Thomas to take on significant debt in the next five years, it’s important that the city doesn’t incur any unnecessary debt during this time to maximize the municipal debt limit.”

HAVE POOL, NEED SPACE

When we talked to her in October, she was spitting nails over the closure of the therapy pool at St. Thomas Elgin General Hospital.
Since then, Sally Martyn has met with STEGH President and CEO Karen Davies where she posed the question, “If we raise the money, will you re-open the pool?”
So how did that face-to-face play out?

We talked to the former mayor of Central Elgin to get up to speed on the road ahead.
She advised the meeting also included Tonya Sheldon, STEGH chief financial officer, Dan Ross, chair of the hospital board, and Chris Streib, owner of Talbot Trail Physiotherapy.
And the outcome of that meeting?
“The hospital was adamant. They were not even going to consider it, it didn’t matter if we raised the money or not, they were not going to reopen the pool. That was it.
“It was too dangerous, too much of a threat to that whole south part of the hospital. And I said, but surely if we raise enough money, you could do something that would protect it from getting toward the high voltage area and the mechanical.
“No, it’s going to cost millions, wouldn’t even consider it. I can’t imagine it would cost millions because it’s across the hall. It’s not right under the pool. It’s across the hall.”
One option is the Boys & Girls Club on Horton Street in London.
“They were even willing to come over and bus people over,” advised Martyn. “But the problem is the cost was going to become prohibitive for people because they’d have to pay for the bus, take out membership in the Boys and Girls Club, plus pay for their physiotherapy.

“And what’s happening with these people is they are going to end up in the emergency department more than they would if they were getting this treatment.”

“Chris was willing to send a teacher over to do it. So we’d still have the quality person doing it. But so far it’s just out of the question.”
Here’s where Hollandia Pools & Spas enters the picture.
They indicated they could put in a hydrotherapy pool measuring 20 by 40 feet as long as they had like a factory-like space.
As it turns out, Chris Streib has a Talbot Trail Physiotherapy location on Silver Street in the city’s north end.
And additional space is available, trouble is it is rented until December of next year.
Martyn explains Streib is now dealing with real estate agents to determine what suitable space is available.
“He had approached agents who deal with commercial buildings. He saw two or three, but they were all something like 15,000 square feet.
“And we need, you know, 3,000 to 5,000 square feet, not 15,000 for a pool and some change rooms.”
Martyn has again approached the hospital administration to plead the case for reopening the pool for one year until the Silver Street property becomes available.
And again it has fallen on deaf ears.
So the appeal is on, advises Martyn.
“If anybody knows of any property that has this cement pad floor. Hollandia Pools can do the whole thing and move it right in, a full unit, or they can do it in sections and they would frame it in.
“And that they would do that and they could have it open in four to six weeks for us if anybody has the space and we’re willing to rent it and we’re willing to raise the money to help Chris do this.
“We need a space and right away.”
Martyn estimates there are probably 600 or so individuals impacted by the closure of the therapy pool.
“And what’s happening with these people is they are going to end up in the emergency department more than they would if they were getting this treatment.
“So it’s keeping people out of the hospital. It’s a benefit to the hospital to do this, but yeah, they don’t want to do it. No, they’re not. They’re absolutely not going to change.”
The matter was discussed at a city council meeting in October and we spoke with Mayor Joe Preston at that time.
“It’s on our agenda to discuss, because many people don’t understand that the city does not control the hospital spending.
“We help, we meet, we talk about growth, we share with them our plans a lot, but this is a decision (to close the pool) by a board of directors at the hospital.”
We asked Preston whether the city would entertain a fundraising proposal from the community to cover the expense of pool repairs.
“If a great group of people came together on a huge project to save the therapeutic pool, we would certainly listen.
“We would like it to be there, but we don’t know what our role would be. It’s truly up to the hospital, not the city.”
If you have a lead on a suitable space, give Sally Martyn a call at 519-775-2292.

Related posts:

The water is anything but calm when it comes to closure of the STEGH therapy pool

With an operational MRI, ‘It’s a new beginning for healthcare’ in St. Thomas and Elgin county

THE GROWTH OF SANDYMOUNT

The city’s great expansion to the northwest is imminent as council will be asked to approve at Monday’s meeting (Dec. 9) the draft plan of subdivision for two projects that will comprise the Sandymount Subdivision.
A sprawling residential development stretching from Wellington Road northwest to Major Line is being proposed by Landrise Developments/Don West Construction and Lecram Inc.

They have acquired the majority of land in the Sandymount Development Area with a proposal to add almost 1,500 housing units, including single detached homes, townhouses and high-density apartments.
We wrote at length about the undertaking back in June of this year and you can read all the details here.
Lou Pompilii, Director of Planning and Building Services is recommending council approve the plans of subdivision, “subject to the standard municipal requirements and conditions including the requirement for a subdivision agreement with the Corporation respecting the installation of municipal services, financial, environmental, administrative and other matters related to the development of the plan.”
No construction timeline is included in the report to council.

THE ECHO CHAMBER

Last week’s item on Volkswagen and its PowerCo EV battery gigafactory to occupy the Yarmouth Yards industrial park prompted this response from Sean Dyke, CEO of the St. Thomas Economic Development Corp.

“Obviously, the comments by the future U.S. President have impacted global markets, but there seems to be an awful lot of emphasis being placed on what are currently fictional tariffs backed by absurdly incorrect stats about what is getting across the border from Canada to the US.
“What’s happening with VW right now in Germany is aimed at improving the performance and capacity of German sites and creating scope for investment in new tech and products. “PowerCo fits perfectly into this framework as a future-focused growth platform for e-mobility and energy storage that is of crucial importance for the group, especially here in Canada.
“They already employ over 100 people in St. Thomas and are aggressively hiring to prepare for the project, as they work toward start of construction in 2025. At our level, we have the opportunity to work very closely with the PowerCo team and, knowing that this is a long-term relationship being built between the city and the company, we are confident that construction starting a few months behind what we’d anticipated won’t impact the future of the project in the city.”

Responding to our item on the Fairview Avenue reconstruction, Valerie Young forwarded the following observation.

“This is just my opinion, I’ve been a resident for over 40 years in St. Thomas and travelled the Fairview, Talbot, Burwell Rd. intersection for many years.
“The three lanes are going to cause more problems than there are now.
“At 6:30/7 a.m. and 3/3:30 p.m., has anyone seen traffic flow?
“School buses and factory workers trying to turn left from Talbot to Fairview at the advanced green that at MOST lets three cars turn?
“Then hardly anyone realizes you can turn left into the left lane while oncoming traffic can turn right into the right lane. “This taking away lanes is going to be nothing but a headache for drivers and, honestly, I have rarely ever seen bikers in this area to warrant a bike lane.
“Adding lanes is a much better idea than taking them away.”

Questions and comments may be emailed to City Scope

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And a reminder, I can be heard weekday afternoons as news anchor and reporter on 94.1 myFM in St. Thomas. As always, your comments and input are appreciated.