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.”
Tag Archives: Fairview Avenue
Does the Volkswagen front in St. Thomas seem somewhat quiet?
Steady progress is being made at the Yarmouth Yards industrial park with activity continuing at a hectic pace.
Now, we’ve chosen our words carefully when referring to the 1,500-acre industrial park in general.
That’s because there has not been a lot of chatter of late related to the PowerCo EV gigafactory which will be the primary tenant on the site.
In fact, in Monday’s (Dec. 2) city council agenda package, there is an Industrial Development Update that indicates the majority of work at Yarmouth Yards is progressing on schedule.
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‘It’s oxymoronic to think you can have growth without expense under public safety’ – St. Thomas Police Service Board chair Dan Reith
It’s a simple premise if we agree to use it as a starting point.
The presence of police acts as a deterrent.
To put this into context, St. Thomas department heads are now preparing draft proposals to present to council in November as the basis for the 2025 capital and operating budgets.
With the explosive population growth projected in the coming decades – nearly doubling by 2050 – one critical area will be ensuring the well-being of newcomers to St. Thomas.
You do not attract new industries – and with it, workers to fill those jobs – when they will potentially be located in crime-ridden neighbourhoods.
So, this past week we sat down with Dan Reith, chair of the Police Service Board to discuss what is expected to be a budget ask representing a 14 per cent increase over the 2024 budget.
At first glance, that might seem like an aggressive ask by Chief Marc Roskamp and the Police Service Board.
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For the third time in as many years, St. Thomas is on the hunt for a city manager
Well, that was short-lived.
Heralded as “a pretty good standout” among over 70 applicants, Michael Bradley assumed the city manager post at city hall on May 15.
Exactly five months later, a media release from Mayor Joe Preston announced, “City to begin recruitment for new city manager.”
Bradley has accepted the position of CAO with the City of Brantford – his hometown – and will depart his office at city hall in mid-November.
Before accepting the post in St. Thomas, Bradley had been the Commissioner of Community Development with the City of Brantford.
He also served for 11 years with the County of Brant, including a stint as CAO from 2018 to 2023.
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‘I’m not sure that it could have gone better, I smiled a lot’ – St. Thomas Mayor Joe Preston following this week’s AMO conference
It appears the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) conference at the beginning of this week in Ottawa proved productive for many communities in attendance.
In the case of the St. Thomas delegation, the gathering had Mayor Joe Preston smiling on more than one occasion.
At the beginning of June, we outlined some of the key meetings Preston and company had lined up with provincial ministers and the link to that item is below.
We caught up with Preston yesterday (Friday) to get an executive summary of what transpired, from a St. Thomas perspective.
“I took a very powerful delegation with me,” praised Preston.
Along with Preston were city manager Michael Bradley and councillors Lori Baldwin-Sands and Steve Peters.
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Stop skating around the issue: Is it time to open up Lake Margaret for recreational activities?
My, how words can come back around to bite you.
A couple of weeks ago, we wrote about Lake Margaret attracting skaters of all ages for an afternoon of gliding across the frozen water.
A scene right out of a Tim Hortons’ tribute to life in Canada.
Which led to queries from several readers as to summertime use of the lake for fishing and canoeing.
As the signs lakeside warn and reiterated two weeks ago by Ross Tucker, Director of Parks, Recreation and Property Management, a big negatory to those warm-weather activities.
The decision to prohibit fishing in Lake Margaret was a recommendation of the 2010 Lake Margaret Environmental Plan.
It came up for discussion back in April of 2017 when Coun. Steve Wookey proclaimed, “In my world, there should be fishing and canoeing.” Continue reading
