Brockville council begins 2025 budget talks with focus on water, wastewater, and capital priorities

Brockville’s 2025 budget journey has begun, with water, wastewater, and crucial city projects taking centre stage in early discussions.

While the budget process may seem overwhelming or tedious, it is important to understand how it operates, as it will affect every resident, employee, and business in Brockville.

Creating a municipal budget is a complex process and city staff begin their preparations during the summer and fall. Each city department evaluates its activities and plans for the upcoming year, and then representatives from each department meet with the city manager, treasurer and finance staff to assess the proposals and make any necessary changes to ensure that the city’s overall budget aligns with service priorities for residents. 

Budget discussions kicked off on Tuesday, Nov. 26 at the Brockville City Council meeting with a rundown of the 2025 User Fees and Water and Wastewater Operating and Capital. 

The recommendations brought forward to the Council in regard to the 2025 Water Operating Budget were as follows:

• Council approve the total net expenses of $3,796,245 (not including Capital).
• Council approve the 2025 Wastewater Operating Budget with a total net expense of $5,618,202 (not including Capital).
• Council approve the Water Capital Budget totalling $1,830,000 funded as follows:
  • $305,000 funded by water rates
  • $725,000 funded by grants
  • $800,000, funded by reserves; 
• Council approve the Wastewater Capital budget totalling $961,000 funded as follows: $881,000 funded by wastewater rates and $80,000 funded by grants. 

Mayor Wren addressed Council during the budget presentation, noting  “I think it’s really important that we help the public understand that water and wastewater expenses and revenue have to be kept entirely separate and so this balancing act of what staff is paid out of which budget sometimes moves percentages, but that’s not to mean that anyone is receiving a double-digit wage increase within the budget.”

Mayor Wren then asked Director of Engineering & Infrastructure Peter Raabe for further clarification on the progress of the Lead Service Replacement Program. This is a service that aims to reduce lead levels in the water entering a building.

“When preparing the budget, five of the projects were taken off the list or deferred, and one of those was the lead replacement program” explained Raabe. “For the last couple of years, we’ve been putting aside roughly $150,000 to go and replace a number of lead services around the city”

Raabe explained that other projects cannot be deferred and are a matter of mandated compliance. He gave the example of a piece of equipment that if not replaced, the City would be out of compliance concerning their water license. “The feeling here is that without the lead program, which has no impact on our regulations with the plant, we decided if a program had to be cut this would be the one that would have to go.” 

Mayor Wren then asked for a ‘star’ to be placed beside that item in the budget, and requested the budget be considered again with that project added back in. 

In summary, the total suggested increases of 8.7 per cent for water and 3.2 per cent for wastewater over 2024 figures, along with additional spending requests for capital projects, were considered and reviewed by council and city staff. A comparison of local water rates from neighbouring towns like Smith Falls and Gananoque revealed that Brockville’s non-commercial water rates remain the lowest in the region. 

The proposed 2025 User Fees were also presented for the Council’s consideration, which include charges applied directly to individuals who use specific services within the city. The 2025 User Fees will be effective as of Jan. 1, 2025, to ensure the fees align with the overall budget.

The Water and Wastewater budgets are scheduled to return to Council for further review on Dec. 10. The full Water and Wastewater budget proposal can be accessed online.