Council for the County of Huron has managed to lower this year's proposed tax rate increase from seven per cent to under three per cent, but it will come at the expense of several jobs.
On Wednesday, council settled on a draft budget with a 2.86 per cent tax rate increase, after choosing to eliminate 13 staff positions. The original tax rate increase had previously been brought down by cuts to other programs and capital projects.
The details of which positions will be impacted have only been discussed in closed meeting. In open session, it has only been mentioned that they are non-union positions for non-core service areas.
South Huron Mayor George Finch said that it was a tough call to make.
"We do not make decisions because they are easy, we make them because they are hard, but that is the definition of true leadership," he said. "As leaders, the public expects us to make those tough decisions... leadership is not about the next election, it's about the next generation of people. We have an obligation to protect the tax dollars, we have an obligation to provide core services, and other things that we do provide are nice to have."
Treasurer Michael Blumhagen estimated that eliminating the positions would result in savings of $1.5 million.
Goderich Deputy Mayor Leah Noel said while the positions are in non-core areas, there could be unintended consequences to eliminating them, not to mention the savings will not be realised until later.
"There is no world where we see those savings in this budget year," she said. "By necessity there's going to be significant financial costs we incur in order to facilitate them. There's statutory notice, there's common law notice, there's ongoing pension and benefits costs, there's potential lawyers fees... and where does that money come from?"
Huron East Mayor Bernie MacLellan said they needed to listen to staff's concerns about operational spending, and make some difficult cuts, rather than keep pulling from capital spending.
"If you walk away from the operational cuts that you've talked about doing, I guarantee you're going to have those exact same discussions next year," he said. "At some point you've got to make some cuts and I'm sorry but operational is the best spot to actually make it. Those are costs you're going to have time and time again. Do you want to stop fixing your roads and bridges, which are the core services the public expect from us?"
The motion to eliminate the positions passed 10 to five, with Noel, Trevor Bazinet, Glen McNeil, Marg Anderson and Jim Ginn voting against.
Staff will present the draft 2026 budget for approval at the next council meeting on March 18.
