REGION COUNCIL FLIP-FLOPS ON APPROVAL OF TRANSIT BUDGET

In what may be a record, Niagara Regional council's approval of the Niagara Transit Commission budget was tentative in the extreme. It lasted less than two hours at a pair of marathon meetings Thursday.

With councillors staring down the barrel of a 9.4 per cent tax increase for their overall budget, they flipflopped on transit.

In its place, they acceded to Welland Mayor Frank Campion's procedural manoeuvre to defer a decision to a meeting in February.

Things looked considerably different at 6:30 p.m. when councillors granted tentative approval of the newly amalgamated transit commission's net operating budget of $55 million and a one-time special levy of $1.9 million.

All that was left was for the full council to rubber stamp the decision by approving the minutes of the preceding budget committee of the whole meeting.

At that point, Campion's plea swayed a majority of councillors to withhold approval of the minutes, which left the decision in limbo.

Campion also accused regional staff of being less than forthcoming in its estimates as the budget process unfolded.

"All I'm asking is to please provide us with the percentages for each municipality or just Welland, I don't care, but provide them," Campion said. "Then I would be in a position to either approve or not approve this motion.

Campion said he couldn't approve the budget because of its impact on ratepayers who already have enough financial issues and inflation problems.

"We owe it to the people of Niagara and, in my case, the people of Welland," Campion said. "So I'm asking that we get those numbers — and put this off — until we have them.

"There is no huge rush to get this done now. Let's be open and transparent with the whole thing. Let the people see what the budget looks like and then proceed from there."

The Region's commissioner of corporate services and treasurer, Todd Harrison, said the percentages Campion sought are like comparing "apples to oranges."

"Our preference would be to pass it tonight," Harrison said. "However, there is no urgency, and you can defer this if you feel like there's additional information we can provide. I gave an explanation, as did director (Helen) Furtado, in the budget committee of the whole meeting.

"The deferral won't interfere with any of the transit's plans in terms of what they need ... but certainly, it would be best to approve this as soon as possible because it is a new entity."

The percentages Campion asked for would compare the regional levy, which does not include the transit portion, to the special levy, which has been updated for new transit information from 2022, Harrison said.

Seeing Campion's success, a group of councillors tried the same manoeuvre with the water/wastewater budget, which the committee tentatively approved Jan. 12. That included an operating budget of $4.2 million, including a 3.2 per cent increase as well as a $6.6 million and five per cent capital budget increase to finance water/wastewater operations.

Welland Coun. Leanna Villella said the increase is too much for taxpayers to bear.

"There are residents out there that are freaking out right now trying to figure out how they're going to heat their homes — and I'm not exaggerating," Villella said. "That's a fact and a concern we all should have. So if there is anything that we can do, we should be looking at it.

"We had one meeting on this ... this decision requires a little bit more discussion."

The increase is part of the water/wastewater budget because 20 per cent of the Region's water and wastewater infrastructure has been identified as poor or very poor, and will cost $1.78 billion to replace, Harrison said.

To significantly reduce the capital budget allocation — which councils have been underfunding for years — is to invite trouble down the road, something Villella acknowledged.

"When it comes to water, I've made this clear to the constituents of Welland, and it is something I can't waver on," Villella said. "Safe water is a top priority for me.