2021 City Operating Budget Adopted by Brantford City Council

BRANTFORD, ON: Municipal budget decisions have a profound impact on the daily lives of residents. From how the City responds to an emergency such as the ongoing pandemic, to required essential services such as garbage collection, public transit and the safety of our neighbourhoods, city budgets sit at the heart of a community’s development and residents’ quality of life.

Municipalities are required by provincial law to prepare balanced budgets on a yearly basis. The net expenditure (expenses less all available revenues) required to operate the City for the year is determined and used to determine a tax rate. This tax rate is levied on all properties to raise the net expenditures required and is set at the beginning of each year during the budget process. Unlike other levels of government that can run a deficit, municipalities are not able to run a deficit and cannot borrow money to fund operating expenses. It is also important to note that nearly 80% of The City of Brantford’s expenditures are invested in mandatory legislated and/or required essential municipal/business functions.

At tonight’s Special Council Meeting, Brantford City Council approved the City’s 2021 Operating Budget to deliver value for money in the implementation of priority programs and services that reflect the community’s feedback. Over 1,600 members of the community provided feedback during the 2021 budget public engagement campaign on the City’s new Let’s Talk Brantford.ca platform which is nearly double the participation rate versus last year. 

At the beginning of the Estimates Process in February 2021, the tax increase starting point for the average residential property was 3.2%. Following two months of meetings, direction from Estimates Committee members, recommendations from staff and a comprehensive review of the City’s 7,500-line item budget, tonight the 2021 City Operating Budget of $167,169,817 was adopted resulting in a 2.77% tax increase to the average residential property.

“Municipalities across Ontario have been on the frontlines of keeping people safe during COVID-19, which has resulted in significant unplanned additional costs to protect people’s safety, and lost revenues from City programming and services that were shutdown throughout the past year”, said Brantford Mayor Kevin Davis. “All challenges considered I’m very proud of how City staff and Council worked collectively to keep required increases during this unprecedented year as low as possible.”

“To say this has been an unusual year and challenging budget process due to the negative financial impacts of the pandemic is an understatement”, said City Treasurer Joelle Daniels. “However, I was really encouraged by how staff across departments worked hard to find reductions while still managing increased demands on service levels. The way in which staff collaborated with Council is indicative of our ongoing commitment to responsible leadership through sound fiscal management.”

In January, Brantford City Council approved the City’s 2021 capital budget of $86.7 million, a majority which will be invested in City assets and infrastructure upgrades and renewal projects urgently needed, including affordable housing, transportation infrastructure, water and wastewater infrastructure as well as new parks, playgrounds and open spaces that significantly contribute to people’s quality of life.

Additional information regarding the City’s 2021 Operating and Capital Budgets is available at  brantford.ca/CityBudget.

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Media Contact
Maria Visocchi - Director, Communications and Community Engagement
City of Brantford | 519.751.9900 ext. 5754 |  mvisocchi@brantford.ca

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