Details of Tough and Reluctant Oxford Budget
Oxford Town Council looked reality in the eye and adopted a 2.4 million dollar budget by cutting staff and services rather than raising taxes.
The new budget at $2,411,150 will payoff last year’s 99 thousand dollar deficit while also contributing over $40 thousand to the town’s reserves for future emergencies or special needs.
The new financial plan is $123,012 lower than last year.
Tax rates have not changed. Residential and resource rates are set at $1.6874 per $100 of assessment. The commercial rate is
$4.1557, while the forest rate stays at twenty-five cents per acre.
A one-cent increase across all rate payers provides $7,315 to the Town. Rachel Jones, the town’s Chief Administrative Officer, says, “Raising taxes and trimming small individual budget lines unfortunately does not provide the amount of significant expense reduction required for this year’s budget to be balanced.”
The impact of COVID-19 on lost revenues and projected activities and commercial assessments is still largely unknown for both this year and next. There is tremendous uncertainty of what activities will be permitted through the potential second wave of the virus this fall which may once again impact operations and staffing.
Council considered options on service levels, tax rates, staffing levels, and programming to find ways to ensure the financial viability for the community.
Council opted to keep the Oxford Arena closed for the remainder of this fiscal year to March 31,2021. That results in the loss of two staff positions and the loss of revenues from user fees, grants, and advertising.
Further, the town will not fill the vacancy left by the resignation of the recreation director.
Other cuts include a significant reduction to the economic development budget that will impact service levels and staffing hours, elimination of the hanging flower baskets for next year, and deferring the annual $5,000 contribution to the NSCC Foundation for student support.
With those changes combined, allows council to transfer just over $40,000 to it is operating reserve fund which had dwindled below provincial requirements.
All staffing and community service levels will be reconsidered with core municipal services during the budget deliberations for the 2021/22 fiscal year.
Within the $2.4 million budget, there are several mandatory payments to the Province which consume a significant portion of the budget, including:
- $505,000 – RCMP Contract
- $224,000 – education
- $222,000 – debt financing
- $26,400 – public housing
- $18,892 – assessment services
- $7,680 – library
Other spending was previously approved for capital projects where the funds do not come from the operating budget but rather sharing of the gas tax, reserve funds, grants, and borrowing. Capital projects approved this year include:
- computer software $34,000
- town hall upgrades $65,000
- paving $80,000
- trail signage and maintenance $10,000
- Duke Street waterline/paving $615,000
- Pugwash Road reservoir analyzer $6,200
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