The County of Brant Council has approved the 2023 Budget

“Through many conversations and careful thought, County of Brant Council has approved the budget for 2023,” said Mayor David Bailey. “We found a balance between meeting the needs of the community while ensuring we are acting in a financially responsible manner”

County of Brant Council approved an increase of 5.8% to the municipal property tax rate resulting in an increase of approximately $184.44 for the median home per year. “The property tax rate increased this year due to a number of factors,” noted Bailey. Among those reasons include:

• Inflationary costs have affected almost everything including salaries, fuel, materials, contracts and services.

• The County of Brant continues to invest in key community projects including affordable housing and a new Fire Station. New services and programs are also in place to meet the needs of residents to ensure the streets are safe, to add multiuse paths, to support community partners such as Stedman Community Hospice and to advance environmental protection, to name a few

• The County of Brant is growing and with growth comes the need for more infrastructure such as roads, water and sidewalks, new services and programs and the staff to deliver services.

“When comparing the County of Brant to surrounding single-tier municipalities, Brant still has one of the lower tax rates,” said Bailey

“The County of Brant has maintained a consistently low property tax rate with a high level of service, and we are proud of that.”

Based on 2022 property tax rates, the median home paid:

•

• Norfolk County - $4699.98

Most municipalities who have finalized their budgets are seeing an increase to property tax rates and those increases have varied greatly among municipalities

This year, Council voted to use money from the reserves to ensure that operating and capital investments could be made without impacting services and programs delivered to the community and to reduce the burden of a property tax increase on the County ratepayer. Next year, in 2024, Council will need to carefully consider how to meet the growing needs of the community while maintaining an appropriate level of reserves

To view more information about the budget, visit www.EngageBrant.ca/2023Propose dBudget.

The County of Brant is pleased to announce that Darren Watson has been named the new Fire Chief.

“We are thrilled to appoint Mr. Watson as the Fire Chief to oversee the eight stations and approximately 200 volunteer firefighters serving the County of Brant,” said Darryl Lee, Interim Chief Administrative Officer. “We are grateful for Chief Watson’s leadership and continued commitment to ensuring that the County has a highly skilled, professional and trained Fire Service team, in place and ready to respond.”

Having previously served Blandford-Blenheim for nearly a decade as volunteer firefighter and performing the duties of a Trainer Facilitator and Fire Prevention Officer, Chief Watson joined the County in 2010, beginning his service as a volunteer firefighter, which was followed by promotion to Captain. In 2019, Watson was further promoted to Brant’s Deputy Fire Chief role and acted as the Alternate Community Emergency Management Coordinator. Over the course of Chief Watson’s tenure as Deputy Chief, the County adopted the Fire Master Plan, guiding the Fire Service for 2020 to 2030, saw the construction of three (3) new Fire Stations in Cainsville, Onondaga, and Scotland, and, successfully acquired a new Training Tower. In 2022, Chief Watson was promoted to Acting Fire Chief and was integral in the recruitment and training of 31 new recruits to NFPA 1001 Firefighter standards.

“Living in the County of Brant, I am pleased to continue to serve my hometown and community,” said Watson. “My commitment to the community is to ensure the firefighters are well-trained and ready to respond to a variety of fire, medical and rescue emergencies, while ensuring their health and safety is effectively addressed. I look forward to continuing to support our dedicated team of staff, including fire prevention, training, dispatch and firefighters across eight stations to share a common vision of excellence while serving their community”

To learn more about the County of Brant’s Fire Department or how to join the team as a volunteer firefighter, visit www.brant.ca/Fire.