King’s budget preparations in full swing

December 11, 2013 · 0 Comments

By Mark Pavilons

As most residents gear up for the holidays, municipal leaders are crunching some numbers, in anticipation of next year’s budget.
The process is in full swing in King and the draft 2014 budget and business plan will be presented at council Monday, Dec. 16 starting at 6 p.m.
Residents are encouraged to attend and ask questions. The draft is available on the Township website (www.king.ca).
Council will consider adopting the budget and business plan at its Jan. 12, 2014 meeting at 6 p.m.
Again, residents are encouraged to attend. The document will be available for review on the website Jan. 9.
You can contact the Township if you’d like more information on the budget and the process. You can also contact Jeff Schmidt, finance director and treasurer, jschmidt@king.ca.
Many municipalities struggle with balancing revenue with services – tax hikes vs. service cuts. Fortunately, that’s not the case in King.
“We have never cut services, in fact we have made significant capital investments in our infrastructure such as roads, sidewalks, sewers, fire trucks and facilities (i.e. skate/ball hockey facility community improvements at the four corners of King City),” said Mayor Steve Pellegrini.
Of your tax dollars, York Region takes the lion’s share at 45% with the Township keeping 33%. The school boards absorb the remaining 22%.
So, King has to conduct business with roughly one-third of property tax revenue.
It seems they’ve made good use of the money.
The Township spent $9.43 million on the Nobleton Sanitary Sewers and concurrent works (phase one). A little more than $2.2 million went to improvements to Concession 11, from Highway 9 all the way down to the 15th Sideroad.
An asphalt top course was applied to the King City sewers at a cost of $768,424. The Skateboard and Ball Hockey Park came in at $650,000.
The Township purchased one single axle and one double axle dump truck, costing $500,200.
The culvert on the 16th Sideroad, east of the 11th, cost $350,000.
The Township spent $250,000 on the soccer field at Holy Name (King Dufferin Subdivision).
Those projects totalled roughly $14,182,414.
The mayor is adamant about contributing to the Township reserves on an annual basis.