General Revenue and Expenditures

The general revenues section of the City’s operating budget relates to revenues generated outside a specific City department including:

• Supplementary tax revenue generated from new properties and additions or improvements to existing properties.
• Payments in lieu of taxes (PILs).
• Investment income generated from the City’s investment portfolio.
• Penalty revenue generated from property tax arrears.

Corporate expenditures including, but not limited to, insurance, external audit fees, Municipal Property Assessment Corporation fees, provision for collective bargaining agreements, property tax assessment-related write-downs and corporate transfers to operating reserves are considered general expenditures. This category also includes corporate human resource budgets and IT licensing on corporate applications.

$8,735,689 or 3.4% net increase in budget in 2021 due to:

• $515,600 increase in insurance costs due to industry claims experience and investment market decline partially offset by internal recoveries.
• $125,000 proposed increase in consulting expense for COVID-19 business reviews to be conducted in 2021 to determine longer-term effects on City revenues and programs service delivery changes offset by transfer from Tax Operating Contingency Reserve.
• $126,600 increase in corporate IT expenses due to increased contractual inflationary licensing costs as well as new costs associated with the Attendance Management System upgrade, and the implementation of an automated performance management software solution.
• $78,400 decrease for 2019 operating impacts from capital budget that were transferred to departments for projects that were completed in 2020.
• $50,000 increase in government transfers for increased costs related to Municipal Property Assessment Corporation.
• $150,000 increase in financial expenses for increased tax assessment write-downs that result from tax appeals heard at the Assessment Review Board; this is offset by increases to supplementary taxes.
• $210,900 increase in revenue due to increased supplementary tax revenue and penalties and interest on taxes; this is offset by an increase in assessment write-downs as explained above.
• Investment income earned on the reserve portfolio was maintained at 2020 budgeted levels; Staff are currently reviewing the option of moving to Prudent Investor Standard that may increase rates that have been experienced during the market decline during COVID-19.
• $8,899,989 increase in taxation to be collected

$1,216,200 net increase in operating budget from 2022 to 2024 due to:

• Projected increased insurance costs using inflationary projections.
• Increased operating costs related to capital projects; Office 365, human resource information system (HRIS) enhancements, property tax billing software, Corporate Payment solution software, and other IT infrastructure.
• Increased supplementary tax and interest and penalty on taxation revenue.