Currents x Arthur Budget Week 2024 - Ep. 2 - Non-profits plead with councillors to reverse proposed cut to municipal grants. The cost to taxpayers? Less than $1 each.

Will Pearson, Evan Robins and Sebastian Johnston-Lindsay sit down to discuss the latest on the 2024 Peterborough City Budget news. Last week, representatives from a variety of community groups addressed city councillors on Tuesday, November 14 to ask councillors to reverse a proposed cut to the municipal grants they receive.

Peterborough’s draft budget proposes cutting the Community Service Grants it gives to 14 local non-profits by between 3.5 percent and 5.2 percent in 2024. The Community Service Grant program provides funding to non-profits that deliver programs to improve the quality of life for residents in Peterborough, according to the city’s budget documents.

Representatives from many of the groups facing the cutback — including the New Canadians Centre, Peterborough GreenUP, and Artspace — were present at the November 14 finance committee meeting to ask councillors to reverse the proposed cutback when they debate the budget starting on November 20.

If the grant cuts to the 14 non-profits are approved, the city would spend $29,132 less on all the groups combined next year compared to 2023. That works out to savings of $0.67 for the median household in the city.

Meanwhile, at the November 15 2023 finance committee meeting, Chief of Police Stuart Betts made the case for a 15.3 percent increase to the police budget for 2024 — that increase would cost the median residential taxpayer $106 more next year.

We cover these two stories and more in the latest episode of our 2024 Budget Podcast, which Arthur is producing in collaboration with Peterborough Currents.

Links:

Peterborough Currents' Site⁠

⁠Arthur Newspaper's Site