Excessive 2022 Budget Growth

Figure 17; Percentage Growth of Select 2022 Budgets

After reviewing the excessive growth that occurred in the Art Gallery I thought I should take a quick look at the growth of other departments as reported in the 2022 Budget. In the 2022 budget, there were 5 areas that had extreme budget growth in excess of 9%. The City Manager’s Office experienced the greatest growth on a percentage basis of 71.9%. This was followed closely by Transit which grew by 52.8%. Human Resources grew by 52.5%. Community Development grew by 23.7% and the Clerk’s office grew by 9.3%.   As for the 71.9% increase in the City Manager’s Office – it seems excessive and given the times we are in Council should not have been approved this increase.

  2022 2021  variance % Growth
Transit $1,459,674 $955,426 $504,248 52.8%
City Manager $641,136 $373,055 $268,081 71.9%
Human Resources $519,864 $340,994 $178,870 52.5%
City Clerk $728,581 $666,750 $61,831 9.3%
Community Development $231,102 $186,891 $44,211 23.7%
Total $3,580,357 $2,523,116 $1,057,241 41.9%
Figure 18; Growth Dollar-Value of Select 2022 Budgets Click Here to Review.
https://www.owensound.ca/en/city-hall/resources/Documents/Consolidated-Budget-Book---Final-Reduced.pdf

In spite of the 2022 department budget statements at the above link being labeled "Final-Reduced", these numbers differ from those in the 2022 Tally Sheets shown in this document. The Tally Sheets show: Transit growth at $515,518 or 54.0%; City Manager budget growth at $158,081 or 42.4%; HR at 119,772 or 35.1%; City Clerk budget growth at $70,756 or 10.6%; and Community Development at $16,386 or 8.8%.Regardless of which numbers are correct, the department statements or the Tally Sheets, these are absolutely huge increases for a single budget year and should not have been approved by Council..