The City of Barrie's 2025 operating and capital budget was approved by council on Wednesday, and for homeowners, it will mean a property tax increase of 4.31 per cent.
The tax hike is just over $215 more for a Barrie home assessed at $369,000.
If anyone felt there was not enough opportunity for council or the public to provide comment about this year's budget, Mayor Alex Nuttall wanted to shut down that thinking.
"There have been more opportunities to speak to this budget than any budget that's ever been passed in the City of Barrie, and I say that with confidence."
Nuttall listed off a finance committee meeting that all council members attended, as well as a general committee meeting and a city council meeting before Christmas, and three meetings in January.
Council held the line on the operating portion of the budget, which covers the tab for more than 60 services the city is responsible for such as snow clearing, water treatment, garbage collection, transit, roads, parks and recreation, and fire services.
At a general committee meeting in December, the mayor said not hiking taxes on the operational side was important based on the financial conditions of the day.
"It is a very, very difficult time for many, many families," the mayor stated at that meeting. "I think that we've been able to strike a really strong balance this year (2025) where we're continuing with zero per cent on the (city operations)."
Ratepayers will be tapped for more money as the cost of water and wastewater services in 2025 will be $420 ( $16 more than last year) and $615 respectively ($28.87 more than last year). Those figures are not included in the property tax increase.
The tax increase is the result of the city's infrastructure investment fund (IIF) and to cover the cost of Barrie's service partners.
The infrastructure levy jumps by 2 per cent this year.
"Based on historical costs, the City of Barrie owns approximately $2 billion in tax-supported infrastructure such as roads, sidewalks, stormwater, buildings, and equipment. However, the current dollar value of this tax-supported infrastructure is considerably higher, at approximately $6 billion in replacement cost," according to the city's website.
The rest of the increase covers off the tab for Barrie's service partners, which are the Barrie Public Library, the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit, Barrie Police Service, the County of Simcoe and the conservation authorities.
The police budget for 2025 is $71.43 million, up 5.79 per cent or $3.9 million dollars more.
