It's a record setting, 24.5%, 4 Year Property Tax Increase. Jared Zaifman and Kelly Ziegner join me to discuss this and what it might mean as we head into an election year.

London City Council recently approved their 4th and final budget. There is a lot to talk about as we head into a Municipal Election year. Joining us to talk about it today are panelists Jared Zaifman, a past member of London City Council and the CEO for the London Homebuilders Association, and Kelly Ziegner, the current CEO and President of the Elgin Middlesex United Way. This past week it was announced that Kelly will be moving to the YMCA of South Western Ontario to serve as that organization's Chief Operating Officer. Congratulations, Kelly! Back in 2014, London City Council made the switch to a 4 year, multi year budget and this practice continues to today. The idea is to plan out the entire 4 year term in year 1 so that civic administration, funded boards and commissions, community partners and Londoners have some predictability as they make plans for the years ahead. At the beginning of each new term, council approves (or adjust) the budget that the previous council set for them. They also map out what the next 4 budgets (including the first year of the following term) will look like. Even with a Mutli-year budget, the municipal act requires council to conduct a review every 12 months. This allows council to make tweaks and changes for the year ahead. It’s an interesting 4 year budget because the cumulative increase in property taxes was 24.5% that’s a record - at least for this century. It also means that if you were paying $4000 in taxes at the beginning of the term, you’ll be paying $4980 beginning next year. It was a bold political move - and as we enter into an election year this decision is shaping up to be one of the first city wide election issues, the other was council’s decision to increase their pay by 35%, that’s something we can expect candidates to be talking about and Londoners to be thinking about as they prepare to go to the polls. Also - in this episode I incorrectly attribute a question asked way back during the 2023 budget deliberations bout 2 electric vehicles really being necessary for the London Police Service to Councillor Skylar Frank. It was actually Councillor Corrine Rahman asking the question, to the Deputy Chief Trish McIntyre. Nice catch, Jared!