Tabled 2021 Budget (As Tabled February 25, 2021)
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AS TABLED ON FEBRUARY 25, 2021 TABLE OF CONTENTS Executive Summary 5 Planning and Budgeting at York Region 13 Budget Context 23 The Operating Budget 35 The Capital Budget 51 Accrual Budget Presentation 61 Transportation Services 69 York Region Rapid Transit Corporation 85 Environmental Services 95 Community and Health Services 121 Corporate Management and Governance 157 Court Services 171 Financial Initiatives 181 External Partners 187 YorkNet 193 York Regional Police 203 Long-Term Financial Planning 213 Appendix 225 *Numbers throughout the book may not add due to rounding EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The 2021 budget includes $2.6 billion in operating costs and a property tax levy increase of 2.96%. The Region is planning capital investments of $763.2 million in 2021, part of a 10-year capital plan of $7.8 billion. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 5 YORK REGION’S 2021 BUDGET $2.6 billion $763 million + $3.3 billion Operating costs Capital costs Operating Budget: How the tax dollar is spent York Regional Transportation Police Services 29¢ 30¢ Other* 4¢ Financial Initiatives 1¢ Environmental Community and *Other includes: External Services Corporate Health Services Partners, York Region Rapid 5¢ Management 23¢ Transit Corporation, YorkNet and Court Services 8¢ Capital Budget: 10-year capital plan $7.8 BILLION OVER 10 YEARS $1,000M $3.0 BILLION IN CAPITAL SPENDING AUTHORITY $800M $909M $892M $818M $763M $751M $765M $765M $600M $706M $698M $684M $400M $200M $0M 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 2027 2028 2029 2030 Capital Spending Authority (CSA) Forecasted Plan 6 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 2021-2022 BUDGET POSITIONS THE REGION FOR RECOVERY The proposed 2021-2022 budget for York Region would fund strong ongoing efforts to contain the COVID-19 virus that triggered a global pandemic in 2020, while supporting mass immunizations and recovery from the economic and social impacts of the virus. It also reflects other Regional priorities that advance the Region’s vision of strong, caring and safe communities. The budget lays out total proposed spending of $2.6 billion for operations in 2021 and a similar outlook for 2022, the final year of the current four-year budget cycle. The tax levy would fund about half of operating spending in both years. Proposed tax levy increases of 2.96% in 2021 and 2022 are consistent with the level endorsed by Council at the start of the 2019-2022 multi-year budget. Spending for Community and Health Services, particularly Public Health, will remain higher in 2021 and 2022 than originally planned, while transit ridership is expected to remain well under forecast, resulting in significantly lower revenues in both years. The Region has offset these operating pressures by finding new savings, applying expected senior government funding and adjusting contributions to, and draws from, reserves, including draws from the newly established Pandemic Management Reserve of $13.0 and $39.1 million in 2021 and 2022 respectively. The Operating Budget and Financial Initiatives chapters discuss the Pandemic Management Reserve in more detail. With a 10-year capital plan of $7.8 billion in 2021, up by $642 million from the 10-year plan of a year ago, this budget continues the Region’s commitment to capital infrastructure to meet the growing and evolving needs of the Region. The operating and capital budgets support priorities that reflect Vision 2051, the Region’s long-term vision for its future, and the 2019 to 2023 Strategic Plan. The following provides examples of alignment between budget items and the four high-level community result areas in the Strategic Plan. PRIORITY: INCREASE ECONOMIC PROSPERITY • Leveraging the YorkTrax development tracking tool to streamline processes and achieve faster turnaround times, for about 1,000 development applications annually, while ensuring that development is aligned with the Growth Plan mandate and infrastructure investments • Investing $9.7 million to build an additional 114 kilometres of fibre network in 2021, including 137 Regional, 63 local and 6 York Regional Police connections, increasing connectivity in rural areas and helping to facilitate economic opportunity for businesses and citizens • Fostering an environment that attracts businesses and grows employment by continuing to implement the Region’s Economic Development Action Plan • Investing $3.3 billion over the next ten years into roads and transit infrastructure to support the efficient movement of people and goods • Maintaining 4,300 lane kilometres of urban and rural roads EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 7 PRIORITY: SUPPORT COMMUNITY HEALTH, SAFETY AND WELL-BEING • Leading COVID-19 case and contact management, mass immunization program, as well as enforcement of pandemic-related restrictions, education and regular communication with residents • Building two new paramedic stations and redeveloping two more over the next two years, and adding 31 paramedic staff over the same timeline to ensure the Region continues to meet response time targets • Constructing close to 500 new affordable housing units within the Region to grow the housing network from about 6,900 units today to almost 7,400 by 2025 • Adding 57 staff over two years to York Regional Police to address population growth, workload pressures and maintain quality police administrative services • Delivering 119 billion litres of clean and safe drinking water annually to protect public health PRIORITY: BUILD SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES AND PROTECT THE ENVIRONMENT • Investing $2.8 billion in water and wastewater infrastructure over the next ten years to support the continued growth of the communities and renew the existing water and wastewater network • Maintaining the current waste diversion rate at 94%, despite softening markets for our recyclables, and working with the province, local municipalities and producers to facilitate a smooth transition to full producer responsibility • Investing in streetscaping and green infrastructure, including planting 150,000 trees and shrubs in the next two years, to prevent and reduce the impacts of climate change, and to maintain and enhance green spaces PRIORITY: DELIVER TRUSTED AND EFFICIENT SERVICES • Focusing on effective response to COVID-19, providing support to residents and businesses and leading the Region’s recovery efforts through providing safe, continuous services, and reliable technological support to staff and residents, and adapting budget and programs in response to pandemic, including redeployment of staff to help with additional pressures • Continuing to grow the Region’s asset base and ensuring financial sustainability through prudent debt and reserve management, today and long into the future The Region uses multi-year budgeting to better align spending with priorities in the four-year Strategic Plan. This approach also provides greater clarity about activities and funding in future years and improves fiscal discipline, while still allowing flexibility in case of unexpected developments. 8 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY PANDEMIC-RELATED PRESSURES ON YORK REGION SERVICES OPERATING BUDGET WILL CONTINUE York Region provides services to residents, often working in concert with its nine local The Regional operating budget proposes gross spending of municipal partners—the towns of Aurora, $2.6 billion in 2021. This would be $44 million higher than Newmarket, East Gwillimbury, Georgina and last year’s outlook for 2021, reflecting continuing pressures Whitchurch-Stouffville, Township of King, and related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Based on expectation of cities of Markham, Richmond Hill and an effective immunization effort starting in 2021, the Vaughan. year-over-year increase in 2022 would be $22 million. The Region is directly responsible for policing, In 2021, the share funded by the tax levy would be 48.1%, public health, paramedic, social and compared to 48.2% in 2020. This would rise to 49.5% in community services, arterial roads and 2022. The increase in tax levy support in 2022, despite the bridges, and public transit. It delivers drinking relatively small increase in spending, reflects an expected water to local municipal systems and conveys decline in the contribution of other sources of revenue. In wastewater from them, and shares in particular, transfers from senior levels of government are responsibility for solid waste management and expected to fall in 2022 as most pandemic-related support community planning. programs end. Increases in the Region’s own-source revenues, such as transit fares, are forecast to increase, but at below-historic rates. The 2021 gross operating budget would include an increase of $93.0 million or 14.2% for Community and Health Services compared to outlook. The bulk of the additional funding would go to Public Health, Paramedics, Seniors’ Services, Social Services and Homelessness Community Programs, all of which have high continuing needs related to containing the virus and responding to outbreaks, especially among vulnerable populations. Public Health and other areas of the department will also be involved in delivering a mass COVID-19 immunization program to the Region’s 1.2 million residents in 2021. The outlook beyond 2021 is based on the assumption that widespread immunization, expected to begin early in 2021, will be largely complete and effective by 2022. The possibility of continuing immunization and response measures, as well as COVID-19 recovery efforts, in 2022 would increase the Community and Health Services operating budget by $32.3 million, or 4.9%, from the pre-pandemic outlook. This would be a decline of $51.3 million from