Region of Waterloo councillors and staff hear public input on 2025 budgeting process

Staff at the Region of Waterloo continue to weigh their options as they work to prepare the 2025 operating budget, and on Wednesday, members of the public shared their opinions.

Delegates spoke on the latest edition of the draft budget at Wednesday’s Strategic Plan & Budget Public Input meeting.

Regional staff are recommending property tax increases between 8 per cent and 12 per cent in order to support next year’s operating budget.

An 8 per cent increase to property taxes would mean cuts to funding for various services, while a 12 per cent increase would allow for expansions to services.

One of the delegates on Wednesday, Jaime Stief of Waterloo, was concerned that aiming for a lower property tax increase would mean cuts to the region’s Plan to End Chronic Homelessness in 2025.

“I cannot help but think that we are bring let down gently after the council’s endorsements of the recommendations in the Plan to End Chronic Homelessness back in April,” said Stief. “We cannot make systemic change without adequately resourcing the work.”

Another pair of advocates, Rodney Chan and David Teresi of TriTAG, shared a detailed presentation of how they would like to see Grand River Transit routes improved and expanded to include more all-day trips that arrive at stops every 15 minutes.

“At the moment we really have only two what we would call frequent routes that operate 15 minutes or better every day of the week,” said Teresi.

They added that transit investments are key to social, economic, and environmental goals in climate, housing, and equity.

Another delegate wonders if children and youth are being included in the considerations as they move through the budgeting process.

Jim Moss, co-chair of the Children and Youth Planning Table made a presentation of the work his team has been doing this year.

“I’m not sure how much time you’ve spent with young people these days, but they’re different enough from us that we probably don’t imagine accurately how they feel, how they live,” said Moss.

Moss shared that 47 per cent of the children his team has interacted with experience some kind of discrimination, more than a quarter of youth who are new to Canada experience discrimination, and that 12 per cent of youth experience homelessness, up from 8 per cent just 3 years ago.

Moss urged the region to consider the voices of children and youth when moving forward in the budgeting process.

The next opportunity for public input comes on Nov. 27.

The final draft of the budget will be presented to the Region of Waterloo Council on Dec. 11.