>Grimsby council to review site alteration bylaw next Monday, Pg 2 > Beamsville Lions ready for food drive Sept 24 Pg. 3 > Terry Fox Runs this Sunday Pg. 13 > Ground broken on MURS Pg. 15 Thursday, September 14, 2017 Vol. 6 Issue 19
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The brand new Grimsby Fire Station 2 was officially opened during a ceremony last Thursday at the Mountain Street site. The building came in on time and on budget. Participating in the ribbon cutting were (L to R) Deputy Chief Bill Thomson, lead fire prevention instructor at Ontario Fire College David Tiller, Ald. Michelle Seaborn, Reg. Coun. Tony Quirk, Linda Arbuckle (representing MP Dean Allison), Mayor Bob Bentley, MPP Sam Oosterhoff, Ald. Joanne Johnston, Ald. Dave Wilson, Ald. Carolyn Mullins, Ald. Dave Kadwell and Fire Chief Mike Cain. Please see Page 5 for more details. Photo By Mitch Brown
Grimsby gets early start on 2018 budget review By Mike Williscraft NewsNow Grimsby’s Finance and Administration Committee got its first look at projected numbers for the 2018 Town budget Monday. What they saw, right out of the gate, was a possible 29 per cent tax increase. It will not end up at that level, assured town director of finance and treasurer, Steve Gruninger. He noted that the 2017 budget started
out with a projected 20 per cent increase and was whittled to just over six per cent in the end after a host of cost-cutting measures and deferments were used. Gruninger said council opted to implement a two-year rolling budget review process for the first time to give them a better idea of what is coming at them. “We will know what needs to be added, but we will also know
some of our revenue, too,” said Gruninger. The initial projection does not include the impact of the new minimum wage, benefits impact, eventual strategies for infrastructure planning, or additional expenses not foreseen. A similar process for new hires in 2017 has been utilized for 2018 with starting times being pushed back to mid-year. On the flipside, Gruninger noted that some
new measures on the revenue side which were under consideration previously are now in place, creating a known commodity. “The new building, planning and engineering fee schedule which has been talked about for some time and will come up later in September at Planning (Committee) will be an added source of revenue,” he said. In 2017, council approved the expenditure of just under
$240,000 with tax levy impact on six new hires - including a deputy director of planning, two staff in rec services, a records management clerk, a record coordinator on contract and a planner. Three non-impact positions - a director of IT, technologist/ engineering and deputy director/building were also brought on. In 2018, five more positions with levy impact are planned - a
lead hand for Southward Park and another rec staff position, technologist/business systems analyst, HR manager and communications coordinator. “We knew we had to get ahead of this so we had to prepare,” said Gruninger, noting this new two-year review will be a permanent part of budget planning. “This is something the Finance Department has wanted to do for a long time.”