EZT staff brings forward draft budget with proposed 6.95 per-cent tax hike

Lee Griffi, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

East Zorra-Tavistock (EZT) has tabled its 2025 draft budget as council members grapple with a proposed 8.25 per cent increase.

Thanks to the addition of 35-40 new homes accounting for 1.29 per cent assessment growth last year, property owners in the township would see a 6.95 per-cent potential tax hike if the draft budget is approved as is.

Council held a special meeting Feb. 25 where the budget was presented by staff. The largest hike comes from the planning, community and recreation services line, which is sitting at a 3.15 per-cent increase. The nearly $250,000 increase includes a $200,000 contribution to township reserves to help pay for a future multi-use recreation facility.

Councillors asked staff many questions regarding budget lines but discussion about maintenance at Tavistock’s Optimist Park garnered plenty of attention. The township and the service club have what appears to be a handshake agreement where EZT staff cut grass at the park once a week, including inside the baseball diamond fence.

The 2025 budget line has $18,000 set aside for maintenance at the park and some councillors wondered why the township was supplying the service. CAO Karen DePrest said her concern is a possible liability issue.

“If our staff go on private property and do something that is not a municipal service, our equipment and our personnel might be at risk,” she said.

Deputy mayor Brad Smith said he isn’t against providing the service for the club, but he wanted to ensure the township and Optimists have a proper agreement in place.

“I think we need staff to look into this a little further. This is a discussion that needs to be had to cover us going forward as far as the liability,” he said.

Township staff have been directed to consult with the Optimist Club to develop an official agreement.

The budget also includes a proposed 2.09 per-cent hike in the fire and emergency management services department. Some of the additional $162,000 includes capital spending for items like new extraction equipment used at motor-vehicle accident scenes.

“They are about $50,000 a station and we want do to all three stations at once because of the fact they require specialized training and when we have a two-station response, we wouldn’t want one station knowing how to use the equipment and the other station not,” DePrest said. “We thought it was more seamless to buy all three and train all three stations simultaneously.”

Staff are asking council to approve a $100,000 expenditure to repave the parking lot at the Tavistock firehall.

“Why are we repaving the Tavistock parking lot,” aske Smith. “Is it not paved now? I missed something along the line here.”

Fire chief Scott Alexander explained the drainage from the roof of the building was designed to pool into a catch basin in the parking lot.

“We were having water and ice pooling, creating a safety hazard in the actual parking lot. As we tried to reroute the water underneath the ground to the catch basins, we found out the basins hadn’t been constructed 100 per cent and were actually undermining the catch basin.”

He added as a result, the 20-year-old parking lot is sinking and is uneven.

On the table in the new five-year capital forecast is a new firehall in Hickson. DePrest is hoping to break ground on a new facility next year.

“You can see the Hickson firehall architecture is scheduled to begin in 2025 and the build would happen in 2026 theoretically.”

Coun. Scott Rudy questioned if the hall needed to be built in 2026 or if it could be delayed.

“It is possible to delay it,” said Alexander. “There have been plans to have an additional bay at that hall since I started in 1992. In 1994, there were plans to put together a reserve for an expansion. Currently, we have four emergency vehicles there trying to compete for three bays. That station is overcrowded at the very best.”

Now that the township has acquired land, Alexander said he would prefer to see a new station built sooner rather than later, but he understands the constraints council is dealing with.

“Having said that, we have also learned with (the new EZT office in Hickson), the more we delay the more costs go up,” added Alexander.

The proposed budget sets aside $225,000 for site and engineering work. DePrest said the goal is to emulate the current Tavistock station.

“We want the drive-through bays and we know we have the four acres (in Hickson) to put it on.”

The current price for a new firehall is estimated at $2.7 million

Residents of EZT will have a chance to comment on the budget at a meeting on March 5 at 9 a.m. Anyone hoping to delegate needed to submit a request by the end of the day on Tuesday. The township is aiming to bring the final draft budget to council at its March 19 meeting.