This year’s version will provide city residents with information on changes being made to the waste management department’s policies. Next year, the city will be divided into 10 zones with boundaries based on, though not identical to, ward boundaries.

Most Ward 1 residents, and Ward 2 residents living north of Kempenfelt Bay will need to leave their garbage out in time for collection on Mondays. Other Ward 2 residents as well as those in Ward 3 and 4 will see their waste hauled away on Tuesdays. Wednesdays will see the city’s waste disposal fleet stop at addresses in Ward 5, 8 and much of Ward 6. Thursdays, the vehicles will move through the Wards 9 and 10 on the south shore of Kempenfelt Bay while Friday will see the completion of collection in Ward 6 and throughout Ward 7.

The calendar also includes details about the arrival of new wheeled carts for organic and other non-recyclable waste. According to city officials, the receptacles offer a variety of improvements over the larger bins currently in service. They feature an ergonomic design meant to prevent users from needing to bend over in order to lift or carry them— even in snowy conditions. The lids have also been redesigned to make it more difficult for them to be torn open by wind.

Perhaps the most impressive update being made to the city’s garbage carts is the inclusion of radio frequency identification tags. Collection trucks will also be equipped with new RFID readers to ensure carts are always returned to the correct property.

According to a schematic chart included in the new calendar, the organic bins will be about a metre — slightly more than a yard — tall and have a maximum storage capacity of 120 litres, or about 30 gallons. The city says these bins should be cleaned by rinsing them with water and emptying them on grass or gravel areas far from storm drains. If this does not eliminate unpleasant odours, city staff advise filling them with a mixture of one part vinegar for every three parts of hot water.

“Using bags will help keep your carts clean,” waste management officials noted in the calendar. “Remember that only certified compostable bags or paper bags can be used for organics.”

The new garbage carts will come in two sizes — one that is identical to the organic cart and a larger version that stands only slightly taller but with a maximum storage capacity of about 240 litres, or 60 gallons.

Residents who are unhappy with the size of their cart will be able to exchange them after paying a $50 fee, though wast management officials warn it will be several weeks before any exchanges will be possible. “Residents are encouraged to try out their cart for a little while. If your garbage cart isn’t the right size for your property after the trial period, you can request either a smaller or larger cart starting October 20.”

The post 2025 garbage calendar highlights high tech carts coming next fall appeared first on CompassNews.

“The Notwithstanding Clause is part of the constitution through the Charter [of Rights and Freedoms]. Its use does not counter those things — it is literally part of them. It was designed for circumstances where the weight of different rights and freedoms are not aligned, where there is a friction between them — and that’s what we’re facing in society.”

The controversial notwithstanding clause, or section 33 Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, allows federal and provincial parliaments to override constitutional protections and judicial decisions on a five-year basis. Discussions about the use of the clause picked up steam in Ontario in early 2024, when Ontario Superior Court found municipalities could not remove encampments without providing shelter to those living within them.

In November, Nuttall and the mayors of Brampton, Brantford, Cambridge, Chatham-Kent, Clarington, Guelph, Oakville, Oshawa, Pickering, St. Catharines, Sudbury and Windsor called on Ontario premier Doug Ford to invoke the notwithstanding clause to allow cities to dismantle homeless encampments despite the ruling.

Nuttall, who believes encampments are becoming a problem across North America, says the issue makes for a perfect use case for the notwithstanding clause. “When encampments are at their strongest, it’s during the summertime when there’s no school. Folks who can’t afford to send their kids to day camps, use our parks. Individuals [who leave] needles or drug paraphernalia in that environment create situations where the rights and freedoms of that child are weighed against the [those of people] camping there.”

The mayor adds that Barrie’s position is particularly difficult because the city does not have the ability to provide shelter spaces to anyone — whether or not there is room at the proverbial inn. As a separated city within Simcoe, Barrie provides for most of its own social services, but shelter space is managed by county officials. When Barrie police do try and remove homeless people, they must co-ordinate with officials based elsewhere in the county.

“If the city of Barrie was asked by the province and tasked to deliver that service, we would do that and we would find a way [to make sure no one was left without shelter during the winter]. . . . [Simcoe county] certainly has the funding. The province gave [officials] an additional $11 million-a-year last year to help with homelessness prevention. Barrie’s contributed an additional $1.65 million in order to help with these types of initiatives as well, but at the end of the day, it is [the county’s] responsibility. . . and we support them in that.”

Several of Barrie’s city councillors have already indicated their support for the use of the notwithstanding clause. In Simcoe’s other separated city, Orillia, the majority of councillors have indicated their opposition to its use.

On December 9, the body voted on two contradictory motions — one, from councillor Whitney Smith, was favour of its use while the other the other, put forward by Janet Lynne Durnford and Jay Fallis, condemning its use. A majority of councillors backed the second motion.

The post Clearing encampments through notwithstanding clause constitutional: Nuttall appeared first on CompassNews.

“It means a lot to me to help everyone,” said student Skylar Reid-Shepherd in a press release. “My mom always says to help everyone in need and I think that’s very important — and it makes me feel good.”

By participating in the event, students were continuing a long-standing tradition. For close to 20 years, members of the culinary management program have been preparing similar meals during the holiday season. “We started doing this just because we wanted to give back to the community,” added chef Philip Leach, the program’s co-ordinator. “We’ve carried that on ever since.”

This year, students cooked about 136 kilograms of turkey, about 93 kilos of mashed potatoes, roast onions and other vegetables, 32 kilograms of gravy, 40 loaves of bread and more than six cases of berries, which were used to make cranberry sauce and crumble. The food was donated by several businesses — Central Supply Solutions, Stewart Food Service, A.J. Lanzarotta Wholesale Fruit and Vegetables Ltd., the Butcher Shoppe and Gordon Food Services.

“This is a great community learning experience, plus it creates awareness of what services are around in Barrie,” said Leach. “We hope the students get a good sense of the community and being integrated into a community. They’re giving back to make sure everybody gets a holiday meal this year.”

Some Georgian students are already familiar with the experience of going without enough food. On Wednesday, school officials announced they would more than double the amount of space used to run the college’s FoodLocker program in order to help deal with a record level of food insecurity faced by students.

Run by the Georgian College Student Association, the FoodLocker acts as an emergency campus food bank. While Georgian College community members are donating to it at record levels, they are depleting its resources at an even faster pace.

According to school officials, the amount of non-perishable food donated to the locker has increased by more than 50 per cent this year while the amount taken out of it has more than doubled.

To help prevent a shortfall, organizers are calling for donations of non-perishable food items as well as direct financial contributions. “Some of our most-needed foods include: rice, canned vegetables, canned fruit/fruit cups, dried beans, cans of soup, cans of beans, pasta and pasta sauce, canned tuna, ham chicken [and] turkey,” wrote GCSA officials in a statement.

The campus is not the only place struggling to deal with food insecurity. According to a recent report from Feed Ontario, which publishes data sourced from 1,200 food aid organizations, the province crossed a major food insecurity threshold for the first time earlier this year. In the 12-month period ending on March 31, 2024, more than a million Ontarians visited a food bank — a 31 per cent increase over the previous year.

Barrie mayor Alex Nuttall discussed food insecurity at Georgian College during an interview with the Barrie Compass earlier this month.

Whether it’s inflation or the job market or interest rates, there’s a lot of key pieces that are impacting how much money people have, whether they’re a student at Georgian College, a member of the public working hard to take care of their kids, or even seniors who, for the first time in their lives, are saying, ‘I can’t make ends meet now.'”

He added that, while it was important to recognize the problem would not be solved without provincial and federal intervention, the municipal government was working to keep the cost of living down for local people. “What we’ve been trying to do is to control taxation, to control spending and to bring forward a budget that doesn’t just doesn’t just just grow with the rates of other municipalities.”

The post Georgian culinary students combat food insecurity with festive feast appeared first on CompassNews.

“Councillor Schell, would you like to provide a brief explanation of this item?” Greenlaw said as the monitor displayed the text of a motion calling on the council to hold a recorded vote allowing members to clarify their positions on a recent 167 per cent raise for members of Simcoe County council. As the township’s representatives on county council, both Greenlaw and deputy mayor Peter Lavoie had voted in favour of the raises.

“No, I’d like to give a brief explanation — and before I do, I have some speaking notes along with an information package that I put together for everybody. So where I’m going with this information later and where I got this information from. I’d like to put this motion forward because of the unsolicited comments from residents. They are of the mistaken belief that representatives of county council vote the way they do at the direction of Oro-Medonte council.”

Schell explained that, after Premier Doug Ford highlighted his opposition to the pay rise during a September press conference, people from the township had begun assuming local councillors had supported the county’s decision.

At that point, Lavoie interrupted Schell to call for a point of order.

“Please don’t interrupt me,” Schell said, before continuing to read from his prepared remarks.

“A point of order has been called,” said Greenlaw.

“The point of order is that this has nothing to do with what the motion is about,” said Lavoie.

“I’m getting to that, if you’ll allow me,” said Schell.

“Then just get right to it,” Lavoie cut in.

“I am. Thank you for the interruption,” Schell said, before continuing.

“Not only did the people I spoke with agree with the premier, they blamed me personally for Oro-Medonte council. While we know our council has not been consulted, nor given direction to Oro-Medonte’s representatives, the public does not. . . . The township of Innisfil and the township of Springwater have passed motions to. . .”

At that point, Greenlaw began calling out to the councillor while hammering his gavel. “Councillor Schell! Councillor Schell? Excuse me, councillor Schell! May I get your attention?”

Schell continued to read from his prepared comments in an even voice.

“Councillor Schell!” Greenlaw said in a voice loud enough to cause slight distortions on the recording. “Can we cut councillor Schell’s mic? Councillor Schell? Councillor Schell, I’m talking to you. Excuse me, councillor Schell.”

Despite the mayor’s increasingly loud efforts to catch the former Eastview Secondary School teacher’s attention, Schell continued his speech.

“Point of order! Councillor Schell — please!”

“Please stop interrupting me,” Schell said. “Did I hear you say ‘point of order’ there?”

“I was going to say, we will be taking a five minute recess, thank you very much,” Greenlaw said, visibly struggling to maintain his composure.

After the short recess, Greenlaw instructed Schell to provide a brief explanation of the purpose of the motion.

“Thank you Mr. Mayor, I’ll be very brief. I believe that each member of council should be given the opportunity to have their position recorded, just like the members of county council and the other municipalities [of Springwater and Innisfil].”

Schell went on to explain the motion would require a secondary motion in order for council to vote on the matter immediately. Before he could finish, he was again interrupted by Greenlaw.

“Councillor Schell, pause for a minute, please. That is all you had to say. You’re asking us to break from procedure in order to get this to the floor. That is all you had to say to fulfill what you’re trying to do.”

“Thanks for your coaching,” Schell responded.

As Greenlaw began calling for a vote to determine if the original motion could receive an immediate vote, Lavoie noted this would require a seconder. After a few seconds of silence, Ward 2 Councillor John Bard​​ raised a placard. All members of council, save Greenlaw and Lavoie, then voted in support of voting on the motion immediately.

Bard then agreed to serve as the seconder for Schell’s motion during the floor discussion preceding the vote. Councillor Lori Hutcheson then announced she was “extremely upset” by Schell, Greenlaw and Lavoie’s behaviour. “I’m going to ask that every member around this horseshoe show each other the respect that they deserve.”

Undeterred, Lavoie announced he had a few questions on the motion. “First and foremost, I’d like to clarify that you did, indeed, write the motion,” he asked to Schell, who nodded in affirmation.

“Can you then explain what resolution one means? It’s not clear in the wording.”

The resolution read: “That Oro-Medonte Councillors formally have their positions recorded in the public record to make its representatives on Simcoe County Council aware of their positions by voting separately on the following in accordance with the recommendations made by the county council governance committee.”

“What is it saying? I don’t understand the [resolution]? It’s not a properly formed sentence, in my view,” said Lavoie.

After a somewhat drawn out discussion during which both Lavoie and Greenlaw explained they had supported the raises because they were convinced that a better paid council would be a more democratic one, the motion was finally put to a vote.

With the exception of Schell, every member voted against it.

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“As many area municipalities are prepared and able to accommodate the growth and employment needs in the region, we remain concerned about the potential impacts on the already planned developments, investments, and designated employment areas across the region, including the provincially recognized employment areas along Highway 400 in proximity to the city of Barrie,” said Simcoe warden Basil Clarke in a sternly worded statement.

The study, produced by the Toronto-based urban and regional planning firm Hemson Consulting, was commissioned in order to settle a dispute that began after Barrie petitioned the province to annex residential and commercial land from both Springwater and Oro-Medonte. It found that, unless the territory is absorbed by Barrie, the city’s growth will slow in the mid-2030s and that its employment growth will slow in the 2040s.

Following the release of the report, Barrie’s council members voted in favour of a motion to update its annexation request to include an additional area around Little Lake currently held by Oro-Medonte, a move ostensibly aligned with Hemson’s findings.

Clarke expressed concerns about how the findings were being interpreted. He noted that the study actually found the city had enough employment zoned territory to suit its need through 2051.

While Hemson did find Barrie had 793 hectares of unused commercial land, the figure has been disputed by Mayor Alex Nuttall and Ward 10 councillor Bryn Hamilton during a council meeting last week. Hemson employee Stefan Krzeczunowicz also acknowledged his team relied on municipal records to determine how much commercial land available within the city. While the city does keep records on the amount of land that is zoned for commercial use, it does not consider whether territory is actually useful for commercial purposes.

Clarke also expressed concern that the annexation of employment lands would derail existing arrangements made by Springwater and Oro-Medonte townships. “The risk of losing or impacting these existing growth and employment opportunities which support balanced community growth and vision within the region has the potential for negative consequences.”

Clarke also took issue with the way Hemson calculated Barrie would need an additional 630 hectares of residential land. While city officials had been calculating the amount of land they would require based on a high-density growth formula — which would only require 265 hectares of additional residential territory be annexed — the consultants felt this sort of growth would be unachievable.

“How much land the city is short rather depends on a few assumptions about the reasonable density we might expect in Barrie,” Krzeczunowicz said in a presentation delivered to both Simcoe and Barrie councils last week. “This scenario is based on the density of the largest GTA suburbs.”

In Clarke’s view, however, Barrie’s existing intensification plan remains achievable and that by sticking to it, the city can prevent unnecessary urban sprawl.

“As we prepare to work together on further considerations and next steps, the county and our partners should continue to evaluate whether accelerated home construction is appropriately achieved by continuing low-density development in our largest urban centre. The best way to achieve ambitious housing targets in larger urban centres is through development of higher-density, multi-story builds, best suited in our established urban areas.”

Clarke went on to direct a vaguely worded criticism at Barrie’s council. “Until such time as the outstanding questions and concerns surrounding the Hemson report’s projections, assumptions and findings and any individual motivations are further discussed and
appropriately resolved through discussion and due process, the county feels it is inappropriate to speculate outcomes based on desire,” Clarke said.

Later in the statement, he added: “We disagree with poor politics or individual agendas driving outcomes. Instead, we look forward to working together towards developing clear and collaborative visions for the future, that benefit all our communities.”

The post Simcoe warden condemns Barrie council’s interpretation of land use study appeared first on CompassNews.

The ceremony, which was hosted by Barrie-Springwater-Oro-Medonte MP Doug Shipley and MPP Doug Downey, was officiated by Tara Dawn Winstone, a radio host for Fresh 93.1. It was part of a series of similar events being hosted throughout Canada this year to celebrate Charles III’s accession to the throne in May.

Prabhat Batra, Dan Clement, Michel Cormier, John Crawford, Marjan de Jong Deller, Mary-Anne Frith, Michael Gartner, Randolph Gordon Rice, Wayne Hay, Jamie Massie, Dino Melchior, Barry Peacock, Jean Maurice Pigeon, Rowley Ramey, Tanya Saari, Shawn Scott, Graham Simmonds, Sharon Smith, Fern Taillefer, Marcel Vigneault, Barbara White and Kevin White also received medals.

In total, the government is awarding 30,000 medals to individuals who have made a significant contribution to Canadian society or have made an outstanding achievement abroad that brings credit to Canada.

According to Shipley, the event served as a reminder of the reasons he held monarchist leanings. “I think [the institution] is nice and has merit. When you see the smiling faces and the pride on the people last Friday, it really feels like a nice [way to honour their] achievements.”

The medals were designed by Cathy Bursey-Sabourin of the Canadian Heraldic Authority. The 32mm silver medals feature a depiction of the king in ceremonial vestments on the front side and a stylized depiction of Canada’s provinces and territories on the back. Each bears two Latin inscriptions. “CHARLES III DEI GRATIA REX CANADA” (Charles III, by the grace of God king of Canada) is written on the front side while “VIVAT REX” (long live the King) is written on back.

While the Office of the Secretary to the Governor General bears overall responsible for the selection of the winners, the process of nominating candidates fell to provincial lieutenant governors, territorial commissioners, MPPs, MPs, senators, military officers and senior members of the RCMP.

According to Shipley, each of Canada’s 338 members of parliament were asked to nominate 20 individuals from their constituencies. “They passed it on to every MP across Canada to select and give out to people in our community who are unsung heroes.”

“We have got a great list of people who’ve done great work for charity and contributed in many different ways throughout the community.”

The post Crowning achievement: Barrie’s ‘unsung heroes’ awarded coronation medals appeared first on CompassNews.

“Christmas Cheer delivers Christmas in a box — if you will — to families,” Nuttall says. “It gets gifts for parents to give their children on Christmas and also provides some grocery cards so that they can use to get food on Christmas Day and the days around it. It is an immense help for families that otherwise wouldn’t have the means to enjoy the holidays.”

The 39-year-old knows more than most about the importance of the organization. After moving to Canada from England, Nuttall’s family lived in government subsidized housing in the Barrie area. After his parents divorce, his mother began relying on Christmas Cheer to make the holiday season merry.

“I remember my mom used to take me to pick up [the hamper] because there was no one else to watch me. . . She would make me not look at everything that was being provided to us so that it could be a surprise when we unwrapped it.”

“It’s something that’s been incredible in our community for many, many, many years it’s had a very positive impact on my life.”

This year, Christmas Cheer anticipates its 1,200 volunteers will provide hampers for 1,860 families in Barrie, Innisfil, Angus, Oro-Medonte and the surrounding areas. Unfortunately, it may be a rather bare year for recipients. As of December 6, the charity had raised $118,800 for the season — far short of the $450,000 goal the organization set for its 50th anniversary season. Last year, it raised more than $400,000.

“The need for support has never been greater,” said Sandra Yaquo, its president, in a press release. “Applications continue to pour in online, and we’ve already seen a record number of approvals — with two days still remaining for families to apply.”

Beyond money, Christmas Cheer is seeking donations of unwrapped toys for children between five and 10 years old. The charity recommends donating Lego sets, action figures, dolls, construction play sets, cooking play sets, toy cars, craft gifts and board games.

Nuttall says these presents mean the world to local children in need. “I actually still have this train set. I played with it for years and my kids play with it now. It’s something I always hung on to to remind me that we’re so blessed.”

The post No humbugs here: Nuttall makes personal case for Christmas charity appeared first on CompassNews.

“I’m now in my second term on council and can honestly say this was the most streamlined budget process that I’ve been through,” said Ward 7 councillor Gary Harvey during a December 11 meeting. “I appreciate the amount of work you and the staff put into this leading up to it even coming to council and the finance committee. As the [finance committee] chair, it’s much appreciated.”

This is the first year Nuttall has been directly responsible for issuing a budget proposal using the strong mayor powers vested in his office by the province in late 2023. Under the legislation, mayors propose budgets, which are written in consultation with city staff, to councils.

According to Harvey, these new powers were wielded effectively by Nuttall. “I think this is one of the good things [to come] from the provincial changes we’ve seen. It means being able to get things done much quicker and in a more [streamlined way].”

Harvey went on to thank the mayor for including provisions to help the city move forward on some of its long-delayed plans. “There’s several key projects that are included in this [budget] and one of them, in my ward, has been asked for since 2019. On behalf of the Ward 7 residents, thank you for spearheading the fact that we are now going to be looking at adding a splash pad to the Peggy Hill Community Centre along with new basketball, pickleball and tennis courts. . . . I think it is going to serve our residents very well.”

Ward 3 councillor Ann-Marie Kungl also congratulated the mayor for the budget. “Because it has been such a streamlined process, I wanted to take a moment to draw attention to. . . some pieces we did add into capital [investments. . . . In case you missed it, what’s embedded in the motion is an addition to provide funds to look at building a boardwalk for Little Lake. For years, public, safe access to the lake for things like canoeing, kayaking and bird-watching has been requested. It had been tied into a master plan that didn’t move forward.”

Ward 8 councillor Jim Harris also highlighted the budget’s inclusion of provisions to support the long-delayed construction of a performing arts centre. The 2025 budget plan sets aside $2.5 million in contributions to the project and similar investments are expected to be made each year through 2029.

“On the list of really important pieces of community infrastructure, the performing arts centre has. . . been a goal [for a long time]. Since the decision was made not to renovate the Fisher [Auditorium] but to actually tear it down, the pressure and importance only heightened. . . . As the chair of the performing arts centre task force. . . it is exciting to see now the commitment to theatre.”

Before calling the unanimous final vote, Nuttall also took a moment to say the capital investments mentioned by other members of council had only been included because of their hard work advocating for the needs of their wards.

“I’m excited by this budget. . . [and] the amount of infrastructure work we’re getting done. It’s a pain in the you-know-what when you’re trying to drive down a road and it’s under construction but the reality is, as a council team, as staff, we’ve put a real emphasis on getting infrastructure built and getting those city-building projects — that have been talked about for eons — done.”

The post Councillors praise efficiency of city’s first ‘strong mayor’ budget appeared first on CompassNews.

“Lakehead, like many other universities, is exploring opportunities to expand its domestic enrolment given the federal government’s decision to decrease enrolment of international students,” he wrote in an email to the Barrie Compass.

In January, the Federal government announced a 35 per cent cut to the number of visas it would issue to those studying at the college or undergraduate university level — as well as a 50 per cent cut within Ontario. In September, further restrictions to bring the total number down by an additional 10 per cent each year for the foreseeable future were also announced.

The moves came as rude shocks to comptrollers at universities reliant on the higher fees paid by students from abroad. According to Statistics Canada, the average international student pays $38,251 per year in tuition fees, compared to $7,542 for domestic students.

As a result of this fee imbalance, many Canadian colleges and universities had been prioritizing increasing international enrolment. Between 2014 and 2023, the number of foreign students rose from about 240,000 to more than a million.

At McGill and the University of British Columbia, international students now account for more than 30 per cent the student population. At Lakehead, where only 18 per cent of students are from outside of Canada, the financial pinch is less severe. According to Jones, however, it faces another problem — a dwindling local population.

Between 1986 and 2023, Thunder Bay’s population fell by about 3.3 per cent. Other cities in Northern Ontario. including North Bay and Timmins, have seen similar declines. This is in stark contrast to the situation in central Ontario. The situation in central and southern Ontario is very different. According to the city’s estimates, Barrie’s population is expected to reach 300,000 by the middle of the century.

“Given the decreasing populations in the north, Barrie is obviously viewed as an important area for potential development by this university,” writes Jones.

The post Lakehead’s Barrie campus decision likely prompted by need to expand domestic enrolment: expert suggests appeared first on CompassNews.

On Wednesday, its elected members all voted in favour of adopting a $342.6 plan expected to keep the city’s operational expenses flat for the third year in a row.

“It is a financially difficult time for many families and I think we’ve been able to strike a really strong balance for this year where we’re continuing with that zero per cent [increase] in operations [spending],” the mayor said after the vote.

The plan details how civic programs, services and infrastructure projects will be funded, though the final budgets for the city’s police and libraries as well as for services provided by Simcoe County are not included and will be finalized in the coming months.

This is the first year Nuttall has been personally responsible for issuing a budget proposal using the strong mayor powers vested in his office by the province late last year. Under the strong mayor legislation, mayors propose budgets, written in consultation with city staff, to councils.

Nuttall also took the opportunity to thank city staffers involved in putting the budget proposal together. “I just wanted to take the opportunity to thank the many, many, many, many people across the corporation­ who put in hours and hours and hours and hours of time to make it easy for the eleven of us. Your work doesn’t go unseen — it is recognized.”

The spending plan also features what the mayor describes as a “very robust infrastructure plan” increasing spending on fire and emergency services, curbside collection, snow clearing, road repairs, public transit, parks and water treatment. These rises are expected to be offset by cost-saving measures.

“It took a lot, especially given the financial conditions we’re facing today. It is a financially difficult time for many families and I think we’ve been able to strike a really strong balance for this year where we’re continuing with that zero per cent with operations, we’re going forward with a very robust infrastructure plan.”

These investments will come with a modest tax increase for the city’s home owners. Next year, the city will collect $197.8 million from home owners. For each million dollars in assessed property value, bills will rise by about $270 — or, roughly, two per cent. With year-over-year inflation at two per cent, property taxes will remain flat in real terms.

“On the local level, what we’ve been trying to do is to control taxation and control spending and to bring forward a budget that doesn’t just grow at the rates of other municipalities. When you look at municipalities around us, they’re hitting six, seven, eight per cent tax increases this year,” Nuttall said during an interview before the vote.

While it is not clear which specific municipalities he was referring to, unusually expensive budget plans and steep tax increases have been announced by several Ontario cities of similar size to Barrie. Brampton is expected to see its spending grow by 6.4 per cent next year while Windsor’s property taxes are set to rise by 7.4 per cent.

He added that during his time in office, the city’s fiscal position had improved alongside its credit rating, and that this was allowing it to move forward on projects that had waited on the back burner for decades. “The main difference is that we’ve been able to really right-size the finances. . . we’re likely moving to a triple-A rating and that will reduce our debt costs and give us more money to spend on the things people expect.”

Among these long-stalled projects, he noted that the Barrie Performing Arts Centre, first proposed when he was one year old, only began receiving investments during his tenure. The 2025 budget plan sets aside $2.5 million in contributions to the project and similar investments are expected to be made each year through 2029. Despite this, the budget document notes that more funding will be needed to resolve a forecast gap before construction can move forward.

While speaking with the Barrie Compass, Nuttall praised the prudence and dedication of city staff in their efforts to find efficiencies and new sources of revenue. “The staff are the ones who made this happen. . . Over three years, the tax savings from those will equate to about $8 million — [equivalent to] about a three per cent increase to property taxes.”

The 2025 budget proposal is likely to be officially adopted next week, following a largely ceremonial ratification vote.

An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated the 2025 budget plan was Nuttall’s second strong mayor budget rather than his first.

The post Barrie council backs mayor’s balanced budget plan appeared first on CompassNews.