Budget Day 2: Councillors hope for service wins, and cost savings at city hall budget deliberations

The second day of 2025 budget deliberations at London City Hall on Friday looked to clamp down on the projected 7.4 per cent increase, however it wasn’t off to a great start.

Budget increases approved by council

In an effort to improve the downtown core, Ward 13 councillor David Ferreira asked council to make an amendment to increase the budget to provide a grant to help fund the London Downtown Business Association and support businesses.

“The truth of the matter - you know, this is the heart of the city, and it's the beating heart of the city, and we need to continue beating it,” asserted Ferreira.

His proposal would see funds going toward improving safety and security property damage grants and crime prevention.

However, that motion was voted down eight to six.

A second motion by Ferreira requested a grant to beautify and clean up the core.

That motion was passed after it was amended by Deputy Mayor Sean Lewis, who recommended changing the source of that funding to the community investment reserve fund. Council approved an increase of $300,000 per year for next two years.

Deputy Mayor Sean Lewis speaks during city budget deliberations, November 22, 2024 (Reta Ismail/CTV News London)

Ferreria was excited about the potential that funding would provide, "anything we can get – so, source of funding, if that makes more sense for council, perfect. Anything the downtown can get for some type of level of assistance is great."

Medical Officer of Health Dr. Alex Summers also asked council a for one time funding increase of nearly $227,000 from the operating budget contingency reserve fund after citing a shortfall due to an increased need for Middlesex London Health Unit’s services in the community.

Looking to save

After a brief lunch break Councillor Susan Stephenson tabled three motions on the floor, “I think that there's a real desire amongst Londoners for us to look at potentially some services that we're doing that we don't need to be doing anymore, that maybe previous councils did in an era where people weren't feeling the pinch that they are now.”

Stephenson was successful in getting one of her motions passed – that was a move to reduce the annual contribution to the economic development reserve fund by $500,000 per year. It was amended to add a transfer of $1 million from the community investment reserve fund.

The result

The second day of budget deliberations ended with a decrease to the proposed 7.4 per cent tax rate in the mayor’s draft budget, down by 0.1 per cent – that’s equal to a $263 increase on the average residential property tax bill.

Mayor Josh Morgan speaks to CTV News about city budget deliberations, November 22, 2024 (Reta Ismail/CTV News London)

After council completes its deliberations on Wednesday the mayor will have an opportunity to veto any of the amendments approved by council - although Mayor Morgan says he has no intention of doing so, “I have to say that we have a significant challenges at the municipal level, and is very difficult for us to provide the necessary suite of services that Londoners come to depend on with the tax base that we have.”

Deliberations continue next week.