Budget 2023 - a Ward 21 breakdown
Budget 2023 – A Ward 21 Breakdown
This article is intended to provide a ward-specific overview of the proposed 2023 budget. Residents with questions or comments should reach out to our office at ward21@ottawa.ca.
Further funding details are available here or upon request: 2023 Draft Operating and Capital Budgets - City Council - February 01, 2023 (escribemeetings.com)
Key Facts:
- Property taxes are set to increase by 2.5%
- For rural residents, this means an average increase of $85 on their property tax bills
- Over $67 million is being invested into projects in our ward. This does not include many City-wide investments that also benefit our ward.
Budget Highlights:
- Tax increases are modest, particularly compared with other municipalities, meaning that this budget reflects a City living within its means
- This budget will find $54 million in savings and efficiencies
- Programs and services remain adequately funded; residents can anticipate the same standards from the City as in recent years
- Where there is new spending, an emphasis on important improvements to infrastructure is a theme of the new budget
- Many ward-specific improvements have been committed to in order to help manage growth in many of our communities
Funded Priorities:
The following are a list of some of the items that have received funding as part of the 2023 budget or are set to be completed in 2023.
Infrastructure
- Portions of the following streets have been identified for resurfacing and maintenance, or are planned to be resurfaced in 2023:
o Cambrian Rd
o Twin Elm Rd
o McBean St
o McCordick Rd
o Settler's Way
o McCartney St
o Fallowfield Rd
o Franktown Rd / Perth St
o Cockburn St
o Colonel Murray St
o Christopher Hamilton St
o Pierce Rd
o Pollock Rd
o Second Line Rd
- Upgrades to the Manotick supply watermain and pumping station, the Richmond pumping station, Shadow Ridge Wells, and more will be funded this year.
- Barnsdale Road and Rideau Valley Drive will receive significant investments into intersection upgrades, which will help better manage traffic flow given Manotick’s growing population.
- Auxiliary lanes are being added to Fernbank Road.
- Continued investments into many municipal drains and facilities, including:
o Hobbs Municipal Drain
o Biltmore Municipal Drain
o Johnston Municipal Drain
o Dillion-Wallace Municipal Drain
- Culverts and municipal drains throughout the ward are receiving improvements and renewal work. Some 49 culverts in total are being designed and renewed to help better manage drainage in the City. Projects with work set to complete in 2023 include culverts on:
o Brownlee Road
o Old Richmond Road
o Donnelly Drive
o Roger Stevens Drive
o Prince of Wales Drive
o Marina Drive
o Phelan Road West
o Colony Heights Road
o Dwyer Hill Road
o Franktown Road
o McCordick Road
- Bridge structures in our ward are being designed, updated, or renewed. This includes investments toward maintaining or designing bridges along or near:
o Brownlee Road
o Fourth Line
o Jock Trail
o Copeland Road
o Garvin Road
o Stevens Creek
Parks and recreation
- The following parks and recreational facilities are receiving funding or are planned to be developed in 2023:
o Meadowbrook Park (replacement of play structure and equipment)
o Beryl Gaffney Park (continue ongoing work to improve active transit network in the park)
o Centennial Park (reconstruction of skateboard park and pathway improvements)
o Channonhouse Park (monkey bars addition and pathway improvement)
o North Gower Park (design of a skate park)
o Echo Park (tennis court, fencing, and accessible path construction)
o Richmond Arena (replacing the ice chiller)
o Twin Elm Rugby Park (clubhouse upgrades)
- The following parks are up for construction or major development:
o Jock River District Park south (building the park)
o Mahogany Park (new park)
o Manotick Estates Park (new park)
o Richmond West Park (new park, to be renamed Babe McRae Park)
o Silas Bradley Park (new park)
- The following community resources and recreational centres are receiving minor improvements and inspections to support future investments, such as building audits, shingle replacement, fire alarm updates, etc.:
o Munster Community Centre
o Centennial Park Tennis Clubhouse
o Alfred Taylor Park Washroom and Canteen
o Kars Recreation Hall
o Manotick Arena and Community Centre
o Marlborough Community Centre
o Richmond Arena and Community Centre
o Rooney Park Fieldhouse
Other investments
- Important upgrades are being made to the Trail Road Landfill which is in our ward. Though these investments are for the benefit of the entire City, many will help reduce the environmental impacts of the dump, benefiting our ward directly.
- Improvements are being made to the Richmond Fire and Paramedic station, which will refresh the building and help support its long-term operation
- This year’s budget contains funding to renew portions of the sidewalks on Manotick Main Street
- The Mud Creek Stream is receiving significant funding to support its renewal
Areas for improvement in the budget
Many important ward priorities remain unfunded, including:
o A Truck Route Review to ensure that Manotick is removed from the City’s heavy truck traffic route
o Support for traffic infrastructure, such as traffic signals and stop signs, remains too modest to keep up with growing demand in some of our villages
o Road upgrades and maintenance must be funded at a greater level if our infrastructure deficit is to be eliminated
o A hard look in the form of a program review is needed to assess whether current priorities are generating value for residents and to ensure that, long term, taxes remain affordable for residents
Next steps
As I continue to get feedback from residents, my office will make sure that residents’ voices are heard around the committee and council tables. Though this is a good and tight budget overall, it is my intent to make it clear to my colleagues that improvements can still be made in this budget and in future budgets.
In particular, I plan to focus efforts on communicating with my fellow Councillors about the need to conduct a city-wide truck route review so that we can finally get the trucks out of Manotick, and about the need to better fund priorities such as infrastructure so our roads can be better maintained, our traffic can be better managed, and getting where we need to go can be done safer and more quickly.
Please feel free to engage in our budget consultation later this month by registering here. If you have any questions, you can email our office directly at ward21@ottawa.ca