Regional budget set for vote

2015-03-03

By Graeme McNaughton/The Oshawa Express

Durham’s regional council is set to vote today, March 4, on the nearly $500-million budget for the region for 2015, which is currently set to come with a one per cent property tax increase for residents.

The region’s finance committee met late last month to discuss and vote on the budget that would be sent to council.

Police

Last week’s finance committee meetings presented a first look at the police budget for the year, which was passed by the Durham Police Services Board in January.

The $180-million-plus budget marks a 1.59 per cent increase over the 2014 mark – the lowest increase for the police budget in nearly two decades.

“Sustainability, ladies and gentlemen, and fiscal prudence continue to be the key priorities of the Durham Police Services Board. The result this year is a very modest budget increase,” Roger Anderson, the regional chair for Durham and the chair of the police board, told the finance committee during the meeting.

Anderson added that while there are new facilities now running or set to do so in the near future, more is still needed by Durham’s cops.

“As members of council are aware, infrastructure remains to be a challenge for us. We have moved in the right direction with a new station opening this year in Clarington and the new operations training centre is up and running in Whitby,” he said. “But there are additional needs. The board will prioritize them in 2015 and we’ll make recommendations to council after options have been explored.”

However, not all councillors were on board with the purported high cost of some of the new facilities.

“I’m still extremely concerned about the capital costs of the buildings and the facilities. Now, I realize facilities are needed, but it is the cost per square foot. It’s the tens of millions of dollars. I know we’ve heard evidence requirements,” said regional councillor Nancy Diamond, adding she would like to know what measures are being taken to ensure tax payers aren’t being hit with a higher tab than necessary.

Police Chief Paul Martin said that cost is high because it accounts for more than just construction costs.

“We’ve talked about the cost per square foot, and that includes everything. That includes the cost of developing the land, that includes the cost of development of the building and putting the building up,” he said. “So there’s a number of different costs that are involved in that, it’s not just the cost of square footage of actually building the building itself.”

A program that received praise during the meeting was the implementation of body-worn cameras. A pilot project by Durham police is set to get under way this year, with $115,000 in the budget earmarked for it.

“I am glad that you are investigating this (technology) and not waiting for something to happen where we might be asked why we don’t have it,” said Jennifer O’Connell, a regional councillor from Pickering. “I’m actually very happy that this is in the budget and the reaction is swift and not waiting for the public to ask for these things.”

Martin added that the specifics of the pilot project – including how many officers will be involved – has not yet been decided.

Health

The introduction of the budget for the region’s health department brought about several questions on Durham’s efforts to promote getting vaccinated – an item that has been in the news lately due to several cases of measles in Toronto, as well as others in York and Niagara Region. There have been no reported cases of measles in Durham since August 2012.

“We have budgeted for three new positions in our vaccine-preventable diseases program. They’re basically three components to that program,” said Dr. Robert Kyle, Durham’s health commissioner, of the $163,000 budgeted for the positions set to get started in July. “The first is provision of school-based and community-based vaccinations, and rough numbers for last year is about 30,000 doses. Secondly, there is the distribution of vaccines to primary care hospitals and so forth. We distribute all the publicly funded vaccines, which numbers about 170,000 (doses). And finally, we ensure that all day nurseries clients and school pupils are vaccinated in accordance with the (provincial) Immunization of School Pupils Act.”

Kyle added that money will be saved in the long run now that more agents are providing flu vaccines.

“What has happened between 2013 and 2014 is that we have three new vaccines that are required. So there has been steady growth in all of those program areas with the exception of influenza vaccination. Our numbers have declined as pharmacists, for example, have taken up vaccination,” he said. “In addition to funding for three new positions, we are showing savings with respect to flu vaccination. We are going to stop providing community-based clinics next year and focusing on hard to reach populations.”

The health department will be saving approximately $101,000 as a result.

In total, the region’s contribution to the health department’s budget is $14.05 million, a 3.5 per cent increase over last year, when $13.578 million was budgeted. However, according to budget documents, only $9.613 million was spent.

The remaining $26.563 million of the health department’s budget is paid for by the province.

Works

The general department for the region’s works is the only one in Durham that will see its budget go down in 2015, down to a proposed budget of $31.305 million this year from $32.752 million spent last year.

The decrease is made up from a $350,000 cut to roadside maintenance, $100,000 from storm sewers, $23,000 from traffic signals and systems, $33,000 from traffic engineering and central control systems and $78,000 from engineering and staff support.

The cuts from roadside maintenance, storm sewers and traffic signals and systems are to “reflect actual costs and forecasted requirements,” according to the budget document.

Last year, the region spent $163,000 on storm sewers, well below the $302,000 budgeted for it. The region also spent approximately $160,000 and $110,000 below what was budgeted for roadside maintenance and traffic signals and systems respectively.

The solid waste management portion of the works department’s budget did go up, however, with net program expenses currently budgeted at $43.964 million, a 8.67 per cent bump from last year’s budget of $40.456. However, only $38.975 million of that was spent.

Diamond called the amount spent on the Oshawa waste management facility last year into question during the meeting. According to budget documents, $725,000 was spent on the facility last year – more than double the $362,000 that was budgeted.

Craig Bartlett, the region’s manager of waste operations, said the increased cost is due to the delay of the incinerator coming online.

“As a result of the delay in the commencement of (Durham York Energy from Waste Facility) operation, we had to continue delivery of waste to our landfill destination in New York state, so as a result, we incurred additional costs in 2014,” he said. “The waste that’s actually collected at (the Oshawa site), we had budgeted a portion of that to go to EFW facility, with it being operating in 2014.”