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  • February 18, 2025
Value-for-money audit of the city library is on the city council agenda tonight

Value-for-money audit of the city library is on the city council agenda tonight

The agenda also includes the acquisition of water features, the city budget, police costs and an advisory report on the land needs analysis

Barrie councilors will meet tonight (December 11) for their final scheduled meetings of 2024.

The Finance and Responsible Governance Committee will meet in the Council Chamber at 4:30 PM, followed by the General Committee at 5:00 PM and the City Council at 7:00 PM.

In the finance committee, council members will consider updating the internal audit status for the third and fourth quarters of 2024.

One issue that arises is the value for money audit of the barrie public librarywhich one received $9.8 million in city funds this year.

The audit concluded that the Barrie Public Library generally operates in an economical, efficient and effective manner – although the evaluation identified areas for improvement to further increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the library’s processes and procedures.

The Barrie Public Library has branches in the city center and in the Painswick and Holly neighborhoods of the city. According to the audit, the company employs 40 full-time employees and 57 part-timers.

In the general committee, council members will also consider a motion to have the city’s legal staff negotiate acquiring the property identified as part of the water lots 26 and 27, across from 185 Dunlop St. E., in Kempenfelt Bay.

But should these negotiations not be successful, the legal staff would be authorized to initiate expropriation procedures for this property, with the aim of expanding and improving the public waterfront in accordance with the city’s official plan, the strategic plan for the waterfront and marina and the 2023 waterfront strategic plan. update.

The province generally defines expropriation as the taking of land without the consent of the owner by an expropriating authority, in this case the City of Barrie, in the exercise of its statutory powers.

The motion also includes a new capital project for the acquisition or expropriation of this property and the possible future acquisitions of other waterfront properties, with a budget of $500,000, to be financed from the city’s tax reserve.

And to provide staff with the opportunity to negotiate the acquisition of water lots along the Kempenfelt Bay shore, within the North Shore Trail system, beginning with the acquisition of these two water lots.

The Council will consider final approval of a tax-supported basic budget for city activities in 2025and the infrastructure investment fund, with gross expenditures of $342.6 million, a net property tax levy of $197.8 million, and no property tax increase for the city’s portion of operations.

It pays for more than 60 city services, such as fire suppression, snow removal, road repairs, trash collection, public transportation, parks and recreation, and water treatment.

Included in these approvals, however, is the city’s infrastructure investment levy, or capital rehabilitation tax, which will increase by two percent next year — costing the typical Barrie home with an assessed value of $369,000 and paying $4,994 in property taxes, another $99, 88 by 2025.

It also adds $6.4 million to city coffers – half for tax-based infrastructure, to repair and replace Barrie’s roads, pipes, buildings and bridges, the other half for stormwater infrastructure.

And the same typical home using 180 cubic feet of water/sewer would pay an annual water bill of $420, $16 more in 2025 than this year, and $615 for sewer, or $28.87 more than in 2024.

So $99.88, plus $16 and $28.87, equals $144.75 more for the typical Barrie homeowner next year.

Councilors have yet to deal with the issue Barrie Police Services Budgetthat calls for an increase of almost seven percent by 2025, and the County of Simcoe, which provides Barrie with services such as social housing, paramedics, long-term care and Ontario Works, then charges the city its share of these costs .

The costs for police and provincial services are expected to result in an increase in property taxes for homeowners in Barrie in 2025.

Last but certainly not least, the municipality will hear a presentation from Hemson Consulting for a joint land needs analysis. It also includes the townships of Oro-Medonte and Springwater, along with the county of Simcoe.

The study is intended to determine the need for additional employment and/or residential land in and around the city, Oro-Medonte and Springwater.

Each council will consider a motion to receive the inquiry and consider asking Hemson to prepare a work plan to complete a more detailed analysis of the options so that all involved can consider them further. This work plan should serve as a basis for further discussions.

At this point, Hemson says Barrie likely has enough employment land to meet long-term demand through 2051, and Springwater and Oro-Medonte have enough long-term employment land through 2051.

The Dec. 11 meetings will be held at Barrie City Hall, 70 Collier St., and are open to the public and available online.

The council members are expected to meet again on January 8, 2025.