2010 Budget Estimate Highlights
Planning and Environment Committee

Planning and Environment Committee (PEC) accomplishments to date

Measured against the Corporate Strategic Plan, as well as PEC’s strategic priorities, some City accomplishments within PEC’s mandate include:

• Initiated the Green Bin organics recycling program with the delivery of bins to homes starting in the fall of 2009
• Received the 2009 Ontario Professional Planners Institute (OPPI) Award of Excellence and the OPPI/Heart and Stroke Foundation of Ontario Healthy Communities Award for the Escarpment Area District Plan
• Won both the 2008 Ontario Professional Planners Institute Award of Excellence and the Canadian Institute of Planners Honourable Mention for the City’s Urban Design Guidelines for the Development Review Process
• Completed the National Capital Region Air Quality Mapping pilot program
• Reduced building permit fees on all construction projects by 5.6 per cent to help lower construction costs for businesses and residents
• Approved the Urban Tree Conservation By-law, which regulates the cutting of distinctive trees 50 cm in diameter or greater on private property, and the clearing of woodlots in urban areas on properties greater than one hectare
• Completed a five-year review of the 2003 Official Plan, and approved an Official Plan amendment that will guide Ottawa’s physical development and provide a vision of how and where the city should grow through to 2031
• Approved new development charge rates, which fund the growth-related capital costs of municipal infrastructure and services such as roads, water, sewers, drainage, transit, parks development, libraries, child care and affordable housing
• Adopted a new Zoning By-law, which harmonized 36 zoning by-laws from the former municipalities into one
• Completed a number of concept plans, zoning studies and community design plans aimed at implementing Official Plan principles and policies at a community level, including the St. Joseph Boulevard Community Improvement Plan and the Fernbank Community Design Plan

Planning and Environment Committee (PEC) Budget Overview

PEC is responsible for ensuring the implementation of the City of Ottawa’s Official Plan. PEC’s 2010 budget includes estimates for: Building Code Services, Community Sustainability, Forestry Services, Infrastructure Services, Planning and Growth Management, and Solid Waste.

The development of the Budget Estimates for review by PEC was guided by a group of budget sponsors (Chair Hume, Vice-Chair Feltmate, and Councillors Qadri and Holmes) and is presented with their policy decisions incorporated. The budget sponsors are endorsing the draft estimates as presented, which are in keeping with the principles of the Official Plan, the Corporate Strategic Plan, Fiscal Framework and PEC’s strategic priorities.

2010 PEC Budget Highlights

• Budget Estimates include $120 million in operating budget expenditures and $23.6 million in capital budget expenditures.
• PEC’s budget sponsors are recommending that Council consider two substantive changes related to the funding of the Green Bin and recycling (Blue and Black Box) programs, and another option to accommodate financial pressures related to Council’s approved Urban Tree Conservation By-law.

Change #1: Transfer the cost of Green Bin organics recycling program to a more transparent and accountable service fee

• PEC’s budget sponsors did not feel it was appropriate to allocate the cost of the new Green Bin program to the general property tax base after reviewing City Council’s Fiscal Framework, other funding mechanisms and potential changes to the waste management system in Ontario, along with Finance staff and Budget Advisor Bob Plamondon.
• The budget sponsors are recommending that cost of the new Green Bin program (about $17 million) be recovered by a more transparent and accountable service fee for those residences receiving the Green Bin service. This new service fee, which will accompany the current garbage fee on the tax bill, is set at $1.55 per pickup with a total of 44 pickups per year, for a total fee of $68 per year.
• This fee will be charged only to those residences receiving Green Bin service. As a result, approximately 7,800 rural residences that will not receive Green Bin service will not pay this fee.
• Both the current Chair of the Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee, Councillor Thompson, and the past Chair, Councillor Jellett, were consulted, and agree with this recommendation.

Change #2: Transfer the cost of the Blue and Black Box recycling program to a more transparent and accountable service fee

• Given that both garbage and Green Bin will be fee-funded programs, the PEC sponsors considered the current property tax funding for Blue and Black Box service.
• Applying the principles of transparency, accountability and fairness, the budget sponsors are recommending that funding for Blue and Black Box recycling (about $11 million) be moved from the general property tax base to a rate-based program.
• This shift will recognize that those who receive the service will pay for the service in a transparent and accountable way. This fee is set at $.79 per week for a total of $41 per year.

With these two changes, the cost of garbage, recycling (Blue and Black Box) and the new Green Bin program would be recovered as three separate service fees on residents’ property tax bills and will be billed based on the type of service received (either curbside pickup or garbage bin pickup).

Impact of funding Green Bin and recycling (Blue and Black Box)
through service fees

Who is impacted and how?

• Residential homeowners would pay the existing $86 per household fee for curbside garbage pickup, a $68 fee for Green Bin and a $41 fee for recycling. As recycling is currently funded from taxation, the tax portion of the bill will be reduced by $19 (for an average home valued at $287,500). If the Green Bin program had been added to the tax bill, the average home would have seen an increase of $33. The net effect to homeowners of changing the way that solid waste services are funded is an increase of $57 per year.
• Rural (non-village) residents would not pay the Green Bin service fee. Their combined 2010 fees for garbage and recycling would be $129 per household. This would mean a net savings of $11 per year to rural (non-village) residential property owners.

Net Impact to Residential Taxpayers
	Garbage bin service	Curbside collection	Rural Non-Village (curbside with no Green Bin)
Current 2009 Garbage Collection Fee	$35	$86	$86
New 2010 Recycling/Diversion Service Fee	$12	$41	$41
New 2010 Green Bin Service Fee	-	$68	-
Total 2010 Service Fees	$47	$195	$127
Total Cost of New Service Fees	NA	$109	$41
Total Property Tax Savings due to Transfer (based on average home assessed at $287,500)	NA	($52)	($52)
Net Impact to Average Homeowner	NA	$57	($11)

Why make the change?

• The proposed new service fees for Green Bin and recycling would meet the City’s and PEC's goal of increasing transparency in reporting the actual cost and value of City services.
• The provision of garbage collection and waste diversion services are more directly related to an individual household than to the value of assessment on a home.
• All waste collection and diversion costs are inter-related. As the City's efforts to encourage recycling and Green Bin use continue, garbage collection and disposal costs are expected to go down. These changes will be reflected in the service fees.
• The existing program of charging for recycling on the tax base meant that businesses were being charged for a service they did not receive.

Recommended option: Establish a permit fee to recover costs of the Urban Tree Conservation By-law

• This recommendation is not included in the 2010 PEC Budget Estimates. The City’s Procedural By-law required reconsideration by City Council before the option could be included in PEC’s Budget Estimates.
• PEC budget sponsors, Finance staff and Budget Advisor Bob Plamondon reviewed the costs related to Council’s new Urban Tree Conservation By-law and are recommending that PEC and Council recover the costs of the by-law’s administration and implementation through a transparent and accountable permit fee of $50.

2010 PEC Budget Estimate numbers in brief

PEC Proposed Property Tax Requirement (Expenditure net of revenues)

In thousands ($000)

Some other highlights of PEC’s budget estimates, include:

• Rolling out the Green Bin organics recycling program, which will start collecting organic material from Ottawa households in January 2010
• Creating a $1.2-million fund to reimburse charities, non-profit organizations and hospitals for 50 per cent of development-related application fees on eligible construction projects
• Freezing building permit and planning application fees at 2009 rates, with the goal of keeping the construction costs to residents and businesses from increasing, and spurring on economic growth
• Protecting Ottawa’s urban forest through enforcement of the City’s new Urban Tree Conservation By-law
• Allocating resources for expert design assistance on significant planning applications, to ensure projects and their designs integrate well within their surrounding neighbourhoods and communities
• Adding two Building Code Enforcement Officers to ensure proper rehabilitation of former grow-ops, as the City is mandated to do by the Province (revenue-neutral; funded through building permit fees)
• Maintaining the City’s existing and growing inventory of trees, including tree trimming, stump removal and managing the Emerald Ash Borer

Proposed Capital Budget

The proposed Capital Budget authority of $23.6 million includes:

• Solid Waste operations centre, funded from the Solid Waste Reserve. This will consolidate solid waste’s operations and equipment in one location, realizing administrative efficiencies, and result in the closure of the Trail Road offices, freeing up additional space for the landfill.
• Smart Energy program, which funds energy retrofits of City buildings and facilities
• Expansion of and maintenance to the methane gas collection and energy cogeneration system at the Trail Road landfill
• Expansion of the Green Bin organics recycling program to multi-residential households
• Trees to be planted as part of the City’s Trees, Reforestation and Environmental Enhancement (TREE) Program
• Planning and development initiatives, including community design plans for Bank Street South, Old Ottawa East, Carling/Bayview and East Urban Community Phase 2
• Tree Replacement Lifecycle Program, for the replacement of trees on City property

Next Steps

During late October and early November each of the City’s standing committees will review and discuss program area budgets relevant to their mandates. See ottawa.ca for exact dates for each committee and the relevant draft budget estimates.

The Planning and Environment Committee draft budget estimates will be tabled and debated at the PEC meeting on Tuesday, November 10 at 9:30 a.m. in Andrew S. Haydon Hall. Anyone wishing to register as a public delegation at the PEC meeting can contact the Committee Assistant Jodi Collins by phone at 613-580-2424, ext. 15899 or by e-mail at jodi.collins@ottawa.ca.

Key budget dates following the PEC meeting include:

November 17, 2009: All Standing Committee draft budgets rise to Audit, Budget and Finance Committee

December 9, 2009: Consolidated 2010 draft budget tabled at Council

January 25 to 29, 2010: Committee of the Whole consideration and approval of the 2010 Budget