Councillors returned from a month-long break on the evening of August 6th to convene for General Committee. On the agenda was the 2025 Draft Budget Impact Survey—a guideline brought forward by staff detailing different estimates of the upcoming budget impacts. This survey comes after the June 11th and 27th meetings, where staff presented budget information from each department, which council voted to revisit in August.

During the previous month’s meeting, city treasurer Richard Freymond relayed to council the reality that it would cost an estimated 10.28% increase ($20.19 million) in 2025 to maintain status quo operations.

However, some City Councillors were adamant that the number presented by Freymond was too high, and Councillor and Finance co-chair, Dave Haacke, moved for a strict 5% increase for staff to work with before the summer break.

“We say it's tough every year, but it's going to be tough this year. We are looking at reductions. This is not something I want to do, this is not something I look forward to do, but people have put me in this position,” said Haacke, who continued to advocate on behalf of taxpayers who “deserve a break” during last night’s meeting.

On the topic of the proposed 5% increase, Councillor Keith Riel was adamant that councillors have to start “prioritizing what this council wants to do for the next two years,” stating that if housing, infrastructure, and the downtown are not at the top of their priority list, “then we are just spinning our wheels.”

Riel continued to outline the grave housing crisis Peterborough faces, and asked staff if there is a possibility to redirect funds from 2024 precommitted funds for capital projects “if there hasn’t been shovels in the ground yet” in an effort to put more money into these three streams. 

Freymond stated that council can always redirect funds, but said it “wouldn’t be in [their] best interest” to do so on projects that staff have been working on for the last seven months. 

Some of the precommitted capital projects include the Bonnerworth Park redevelopment, the new Canadian Canoe Museum, and the expansion of the Otonabee River Trail—all of which were approved on December 11th, 2023 as part of the 2024 budget.

On that note, Councillor Alex Bierk stated that Peterborough is in an “emergency situation.”

“I haven’t had a month off. I have been lit up by people who want us to react to the emergency situation. If you think things are bad now, if we take things off the plate, things will be exponentially worse. We will double the homeless population if we don’t do anything,” he said, and told the horseshoe table that it is time to “tighten our belts and focus.”

Additionally, Bierk stated that “at 5%, things are going to get worse,” continuing to outline the urgent need to rethink how previous decisions were made, and change them to reflect the needs of the community. He continued by outlining the areas of spending that do not reflect the most dire need of the community, which he believes is housing. 

“We are funding an airport hanger, funding a fuel thing there, Lansdowne Street, we’ve already made that decision, right? But what we’re not funding is affordable housing,” he said, noting that the city had spent $75,000 on a consultation project where families were relocated in anticipation of a new affordable housing build, but were forced to stop because the money ran out. 

“I’m looking for a solution where we can prioritize the needs of our city at 5%,” he concluded. 

Haacke then stated that he has no interest in debating the homelessness problem, sharing that he believes “there are very simple solutions to the problem” but is looking to staff to find ways to make the budget “the least painful.”

On the topic of the homelessness crisis, Mayor Jeff Leal claimed that the reason Peterborough is in a crisis is the fault of council of five years ago, where “deferral was the word of the day.”

“I can tell you why housing is a problem: approvals weren’t made. This council deserves a lot of credit, but there is more we need to do…we need to build, build, build. People better get used to the skyline changing pretty dramatically,” he declared, adding that in order to increase public safety, an increase in the police budget is needed.

Notably, the largest pressure on the 2024 all-inclusive tax increase was the Peterborough Police’s inflated budget, which included their 2023 five year staffing plan—a point of contention between Peterborough Police Chief Stu Betts and council.

Councillor Bierk asked Haacke, the original mover of the 5% limit, if he was willing to make an amendment to define the priorities council should focus on within the 5%, to which Haacke stated he is “not willing at this point” to do so.

Moving on from homelessness, Councillor Matt Crowley claimed that Peterborough is “dead in the water” and none of the previous conversations matter “if we can’t get employment lands ready.” 

Councillor Riel spoke again about the cuts that will follow the 5% increase, stating that “it means reduction in services, which means layoffs—I don’t like to use that word, but it has to be said, because that’s where you make your impact.”

He continued by telling staff that the “marching order” of 5% “does not mean going back to your offices behind closed doors and coming here in September/October and saying either you can’t do it, or ‘this is what we found and this is what we want’.” 

Councillor Joy Lachica then took the floor to reflect on the past commitments made by council, calling good governance “the ability to be flexible, and the ability to flex the needs and realities that arise in our community,” and continuing to say that residents she has talked to in her ward voiced community health and safety as their top priority.

The 50 modular housing units which were first proposed in May of last year and now at 210 Wolfe Street as of November continue to serve as a reminder of the steps taken to end chronic homelessness in Peterborough, but as the program’s two year term ends in November of next year, Lachica stated during the meeting that “we can’t just stop there, we need to realize that this is an ongoing problem that we need to work on, and we need to do it strategically.”

Without strategic solutions, she added, the city is not going to see the population of unhoused people shrink any time soon.

Councillor Gary Baldwin ended the discussion by sharing his fears that 5% is not going to be enough, but that the increase cannot be 10%. 

“I’m really looking forward to seeing what the impact of the 5% is going to be, because I’m convinced right now that without having to see any of it, it’s going to be a tough pill to swallow for everybody. We’re trying to put together a city that’s progressessive and building things for all these people, and what I’m hearing tonight is that 5% is going to have a significant impact on the quality of life for so many of us.”

The motion for staff to create a 2025 draft budget with an all-inclusive tax increase of 5% ultimately passed, with Councillors Alex Bierk and Joy Lachica voting against.