Frontenac County draft budget – 4.18% increase

Oct 27, 2021

Several year’s ago, Frontenac County adopted a policy of targeting its annual budget to increase by the consumer price index (CPI) as of August 31.

That figure has been consistently in the 2% range ever since. But not this year.

The CPI for Canada on August 31, 2021 is 4%. This created some room in the Frontenac County draft budget because the status quo service level budget was up by only 2.18%, including service level increases (1.55%) and phase in of previously commitments for transportation and community development (.63%)

This left some budget room for service enhancements. These include a 0.65% dedicate levy for growth in paramedic services, along with some smaller commitments.

The total increase came in at 4.18%. Frontenac County Council met early this week to go over the budget. After hearing presentations and business plans from various departments over a day and a morning, they tries to bring the increase below 4%. In the end, they deferred debate until their regular meeting on November 17.