Weekly newsletter: February 28, 2023
“Bring dinner.” That’s the advice I got for tomorrow when Council votes on the 2023 budget in what’s expected to be a very long meeting.
This budget balances our concerns with the financial needs of the city.
Funding has been increased to city services (like transit operations, policing, and housing), offset by efficiencies from transit capital deferrals, corporate services, and savings through continued streetlight conversions to LED.
This budget was also drafted based on our concerns about the increases in cost of living, which is why we voted for a modest 2.5 per cent property tax increase. We’re also lucky to be blessed by unprecedented growth to the tax base in 2022, giving the city new revenues the equivalent of a further 2.2 per cent tax increase.
Most notably for our community, the 2023 budget approves the construction of a new police station near Prince of Wales/Strandherd.
I’m thankful the need was recognised for our communities — the population of Barrhaven and Riverside South rivals that of Kingston, and growth shows no signs of slowing down.
Residents have shared concerns including street racing, traffic violations, petty crimes, and car thefts with me that have eroded their sense of safety and security in their neighbourhoods.
Aside from improving local police presence, the facility will bring services, like a collision reporting centre, closer to the community. The current proposal also includes future space for a community partner, opening opportunities for community partnerships.
Several well-paying jobs will be brought to the community, providing many offshoot economic benefits and opportunities for locally-owned businesses.
On a larger scale, it replaces two facilities past their useful life and two facilities currently leased by the police service, meaning money spent on untenable building maintenance and rent can be redirected to policing.
The police station is only one part of a wider solution we need to improve community safety in Barrhaven, but it is a major step towards that goal.
Among the more common feedback I’ve received from residents has been the reductions in funding to public transit.
The reductions are deferrals to capital investments due to LRT construction delays necessitating a push-back of transition works and supply delays continuing to affect bus shelter procurement, installation, and other station improvements (some shelters ordered early-2022 have yet to be delivered).
The much smaller operations budget reduction comes from the retirement of 117 buses that have been sitting unused at our garages, including 92 of our oldest buses past their useful lives and 25 of our first batch of double-deckers, whose mid-life refurbishment is more expensive than purchasing a new vehicle.
Furthermore, the retirement reduces OC Transpo’s fleet from ~850 to ~730 buses. With 615 buses required for weekday peak service (less for others times), this leaves the agency with a healthy number of buses for maintenance cycling and as spares.
The main hurdle in service delivery at the moment is labour.
A regulation change in 2021 (the addition of a mandatory 30-minute break) and poor decisions made around the transition to LRT back in 2018 led to OC Transpo losing operators to other positions at the company, city, and other employers — in fact, we were already short-staffed back then, but it was on a much smaller scale and therefore solvable with overtime.
The transportation industry, including school buses, transit, and trucking, has been facing a years-long labour shortage originating before the pandemic, so despite an aggressive hiring campaign, retaining new operators has been a challenge.
Two operators have to be hired to achieve a net gain of one operator due to attrition. As of last month, OC Transpo is on pace to filling all vacant operator positions by the end of this year needed to deliver the service at its current levels.
I look forward to seeing what comes of the lively discussions at tomorrow’s budget-focused Council meeting.
-Wilson