Agenda - Finance Advisory Committee - 20210927Town of Aurora
Finance Advisory Committee
Meeting Agenda
Date:September 27, 2021
Time:5:45 p.m.
Location:Video Conference
Pages
1.Procedural Notes
This meeting will be held electronically as per Section 19. i) of the Town's
Procedure By-law No. 6228-19, as amended, due to the COVID-19 situation.
2.Approval of the Agenda
3.Declarations of Pecuniary Interest and General Nature Thereof
4.Receipt of the Minutes
4.1.Finance Advisory Committee Meeting Minutes of June 8, 2021 1
That the Finance Advisory Committee meeting minutes of June 8, 2021,
be received for information.
5.Delegations
Note: At this time, the Municipal Offices are closed. This meeting will be live
streamed at https://www.youtube.com/c/Townofaurora/videos. Anyone
wishing to provide comment on an agenda item is encouraged to
visit www.aurora.ca/participation for guidelines on electronic delegation.
6.Matters for Consideration
6.1.Memorandum from Manager, Financial Reporting and Revenue; Re:
Optional Small Business Subclass – Property Tax
4
That the memorandum regarding Optional Small Business
Subclass - Property Tax be received for information.
1.
6.2.Memorandum from Project Management Office; Re: Town’s Major
Capital Projects Update
9
That the memorandum regarding Town’s Major Capital Projects1.
Update be received for information.
7.New Business
8.Adjournment
1
Town of Aurora
Finance Advisory Committee
Meeting Minutes
Date:
Time:
Location:
Tuesday, June 8, 2021
5:45 p.m.
Video Conference
Committee Members: Councillor Harold Kim (Chair)
Mayor Tom Mrakas
Councillor Michael Thompson
Other Attendees: Doug Nadorozny, Chief Administrative Officer
Rachel Wainwright-van Kessel
Jason Gaertner, Manager, Financial Management
Laura Sheardown, Advisor, Financial Management
Sandeep Dhillon, Advisor, Financial Management
Ishita Soneji, Council/Committee Coordinator
_____________________________________________________________________
1. Procedural Notes
This meeting was held electronically as per Section 19. i) of the Town's
Procedure By-law No. 6228-19, as amended, due to the COVID-19 situation.
That Chair called the meeting to order at 5:46 p.m.
2. Approval of the Agenda
Moved by Mayor Mrakas
Seconded by Councillor Thompson
That the agenda as circulated by Legislative Services, be approved.
Carried
Page 1 of 15
2
3. Declarations of Pecuniary Interest and General Nature Thereof
There were no declarations of pecuniary interest under the Municipal Conflict of
Interest Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. M.50.
4. Receipt of the Minutes
4.1 Finance Advisory Committee Meeting Minutes of May 11, 2021
Moved by Councillor Thompson
Seconded by Mayor Mrakas
That the Finance Advisory Committee meeting minutes of May 11, 2021,
be received for information.
Carried
5. Delegation
None.
6. Matters for Consideration
6.1 Memorandum from Financial Management Advisor; Re: Prudent Investor
Update
Staff provided an overview of the memorandum noting the intent to restart
the process to invest under the Prudent Investor regime through joining
the ONE Joint Investment Board (JIB). Staff noted that the associated
investment policy will be brought forward for Committee's consideration
at a future meeting in 2021.
The Committee inquired about the Town's total investment portfolio value
and available operating funds for investment, and staff provided
clarification. The Committee further inquired about the overall status and
performance of the ONE JIB and other municipalities currently with the
JIB, and staff noted that performance data will be included in upcoming
updates to the Committee and is also available on the ONE Investment
website. The Committee sought clarification on the redemption conditions
as discussed at previous Committee meetings and suggested that more
Page 2 of 15
3
detailed information regarding the redemption operating terms and
structure be included.
Moved by Councillor Thompson
Seconded by Mayor Mrakas
1. That the memorandum regarding Prudent Investor Update be received;
and
2. That the Finance Advisory Committee comments regarding Prudent
Investor be received and referred to staff for consideration and further
action as appropriate.
Carried
7. New Business
None.
8. Adjournment
Moved by Councillor Thompson
Seconded by Mayor Mrakas
That the meeting be adjourned at 5:58 p.m.
Carried
Page 3 of 15
100 John West Way
Aurora, Ontario
L4G 6J1
(905) 727-3123
aurora.ca
Town of Aurora
Memorandum
Finance
Re: Optional Small Business Subclass – Property Tax
To: Finance Advisory Committee
From: Elizabeth Adams-Quattrociocchi, Manager, Financial Reporting & Revenue
/ Deputy Treasurer
Date: September 27, 2021
Recommendation
1. That the memorandum regarding proposed property tax small business subclass be
received for information
Background
The optional Small Business Property Tax Subclass was announced as part of the 2020
Provincial Budget to serve as one of many relief measures to mitigate financial
pressures that arose due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The highlights of the new regulation include:
It is applicable to Commercial and/or Industrial property classes, excluding
vacant land, parking lots and large industrial
The range of discount rate is 0% - 35%
The funding options for the discount include a tax levy decrease, across all
property classes and within business classes (through revenue neutral ratios)
Municipalities can require property owners to pass on the reduction to eligible
tenants
The province, through the school board share of the property tax, may consider
matching any municipal property tax reductions adopted through this program if
the municipality engages the public (businesses) prior to implementing any
program under the regulation
Page 4 of 15
Proposed Small Business Subclass – Property Tax
September 27, 2021 Page 2 of 5
Municipal and regional responsibilities under the new regulation include:
The administration and development any policy for the optional Small Business
Property Tax Subclass
The upper tier municipality must pass a bylaw to adopt the subclass and the list
of applicable properties in a publicly accessible registry
Assign a staff as a program administrator who will be responsible to approve the
properties for inclusion, notify property owners of decisions and review requests
for reconsideration
Assign a staff as an appellate/arbitrator to hear any appeals of the program
administrator’s eligibility decisions as property owners
York Region and all nine lower tier municipalities have been meeting regularly to discuss
the development of a policy and a consistent eligibility criteria that could be
implemented should a Small Business Property Tax Subclass be adopted.
Analysis
Determining the appropriate eligibility criteria, that fair and equitable, is challenging and
may not be consistent across the province
Normally the property classification is performed by MPAC. For the small business
subclass, municipalities will need to identify eligible properties and communicate the
roll numbers to MPAC.
The province has given municipalities the discretion to define “small business”
properties. There are many methodologies for defining a small business, including
number of employees, property value, class of a business, geographic area, annual
revenue, etc. The challenge is most of this information is not part of the assessment roll
making it difficult for municipalities to gather accurate and reliable data.
The Town currently has an additional levy for the Business Improvement Area (BIA) that
places additional property tax pressures on businesses in this geographical area.
Generally, businesses part of the BIA could be eligible for the new subclass. The
benefits of a small business subclass for this area would be negated and offset by this
special purpose tax.
It is not clear on how any tax benefit derived from the subclass may benefit the small
businesses that rent building space for their operations. In many cases, small
Page 5 of 15
Proposed Small Business Subclass – Property Tax
September 27, 2021 Page 3 of 5
businesses are tenants in larger buildings and may not benefit from property tax
savings directly or indirectly.
As the regulation allows municipalities flexibility in determining the eligible criteria it will
likely lead to inconsistency across the 444 municipalities in the province. Decisions
made by other municipalities can create pressures for a municipality to adopt or change
the small business subclass that may not align with long term objectives or strategies.
The financial impact resulting from the small business subclass will either be absorbed
by the municipality or transferred to other property classes
The annual budget determines the amount of property taxes to be levied and tax
policies determine how it is distributed among the different property tax classes. By
reducing the rate for this subclass, municipalities have two options: shifting the burden
to other property tax classes or absorbing the pressure within the budget.
The first option of shifting the tax burden to other classes would redistribute the
reduction provided to the small business subclass to other property tax classes.
Municipalities can decide to redistribute within only commercial and industrial property
tax classes or also include the residential property tax class too. In this scenario the
Town would remain revenue neutral maintaining the total budgeted revenue through
redistributing the taxes.
The other option is for the Town to reduce the overall budgeted property tax revenue to
account for the new lower small business property tax rate. This would need to be
achieved through a combination of cost savings, service-level reductions and increases
to non-tax revenues. This budget reduction could be difficult to achieve as the Town
looks for savings and efficiencies annually through the budget process to offset
pressures. Also Aurora is a growing municipality and our businesses and residents are
accustomed to the current levels of service they receive.
At this time it is difficult to estimate the total cost of the new subclass for Aurora as an
application-based method could likely be required to determine eligibility. Under this
method information not included in the property roll would need to be evaluated and
new applications could come in over time. This would make it more challenging to plan
future tax levy impacts.
Page 6 of 15
Proposed Small Business Subclass – Property Tax
September 27, 2021 Page 4 of 5
Municipalities need to consider the additional administration burden placed on property
tax administration staff
The methodology to determine the eligible properties could be based on current
assessment value of a property and/or inclusive of an application-based program. An
application-based program will be needed to ensure fairness of the program. Basing the
eligibility solely on the current value assessment does not consider the following
factors:
Many small businesses rent their properties from larger property owners
Some smaller business properties could be satellite locations for larger
corporations such as banks
A method to ensure the property tax savings is passed along to eligible small
businesses tenants of larger commercial properties
A periodic review for changing use of tenanted properties would be needed
For the purpose of property tax administration, municipalities generally deal with
property owners only. The new regulation allows a municipality to require any property
tax savings to be passed to eligible tenants. This is a change that places the
municipality in the position to be involved in contractual agreements between an owner
and a tenant.
The Town currently has one Revenue Administrator that is responsible for all
maintenance and billing associated with approximately 21,000 property tax accounts.
Administering an application-based subclass would require one additional staff as the
current position does not have the capacity to absorb additional work.
The new small business subclass was proposed to mitigate financial pressures resulting
from the Covid-19 pandemic
The new subclass was introduced as a measure to mitigate the financial hardship faced
by small business due to COVID-19. However, implementing tax policy takes time and
would likely not come into effect until after the biggest impact of the pandemic to small
businesses has passed.
The financial impacts are not just limited to small businesses but also affect larger
businesses and residential households. The optional subclass would result in shifting
the tax burden from small businesses to other property owners while at the same time
increasing the administration for municipalities.
Page 7 of 15
Proposed Small Business Subclass – Property Tax
September 27, 2021 Page 5 of 5
Attachments
None
Page 8 of 15
100 John West Way
Aurora, Ontario
L4G 6J1
(905) 727-3123
aurora.ca
Town of Aurora
Memorandum
Corporate Services
_______________________________________________________________________________________
Re: Town’s Major Capital Projects Update
To: Finance Advisory Committee
From: Lianne Jalali, Project Management Office, Corporate Services
Date: September 14, 2021
Recommendation
1. That the memorandum regarding Town’s Major Capital Projects Update be received
for information.
Background
The Town currently has multiple major capital projects underway in varying stages of
completion. These major projects include the following:
Aurora Town Square
Fire Hall 4-5
Joint Operations Centre Additional Work
Financial System
Analysis
Aurora Town Square
The project is generally on track. Demolition and excavation works have continued
throughout the site.
Library:
Mechanical and Electrical rough-ins continue within the library 2nd floor expansion
space, including the routing of new services through the ground floor ceiling spaces in
the main lobby and washrooms. Some strapping has been installed on the concrete
masonry block in preparation for drywall. New roof assemblies have been installed over
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Town’s Major Capital Projects Update
September 14, 2021 2 of 6
the existing Library and new addition spaces and are watertight. The precast concrete
stairs have been placed at the main west entrance. The foundations and structural steel
framing of the east vestibule / bridge connection has been installed.
Church Street School House and New Cultural Centre:
Erection of the new Cultural Centre’s structure continued for the month of August 2021.
Most of the basement floor slab, foundation walls and columns have been installed and
the forming for the ground floor slab has started. Some of the ground floor slab has
been poured. The temporary structural steel rakers supporting the School House
foundations are anticipated to be removed in the next week, which will be followed by
the installation of the board form retaining walls in the atrium and the pouring of the
floor slab of the atrium.
Project Schedule:
An updated construction schedule was issued by Chandos on August 25th. Major
milestone dates including Substantial Performance and Turnovers of the main project
components have remained unchanged. To expedite the Cultural centre schedule,
Chandos proposed using 35MPa concrete in lieu of 25 MPa on the raft slab and piers so
they can reach full strength quicker and expedite the removal of temporary rakers within
the future atrium space.
The Town and Chandos will look to iron out the legal and insurance details of a partial
turnover and occupancy of the Library and outdoor Square when completed, in advance
of Substantial Performance on the overall project.
Milestone Baselined Completion Expected Completion
Substantial Performance August 2022 August 2022
Occupancy August 2022 September 2022
Total Completion November 2022 November 2022
Budget Status:
Colliers Project Leaders have baselined the project budget at $51,939,700 (including
HST). Chandos’ contract price excluding Cash Allowances is $39,394,615. The Cash
Page 10 of 15
Town’s Major Capital Projects Update
September 14, 2021 3 of 6
Allowance amount of $1,615,250 will be tracked separately as the various areas of
scope are implemented throughout the Construction process. Currently there are one-
hundred and six (106) Contemplated Change Notices (CCNs) issued by RAW and TPP,
and twenty-five (25) Request for Change Orders (RFCOs) issued by Chandos. Any
potential costs for these will be drawn from the construction contingency.
Description Total Budget Committed
Forecast
Cost at
Completion
Forecast
Variance at
Completion
Consultant
Fees $4,750,272 $4,746,697 $4,750,272 $0
Construction
Costs $41,009,865 $41,009,865 $41,009,865 $0
Town
Allowances $1,280,735 $507,267 $1,280,735 $0
Contingencies $4,000,500 $962,269 $4,000,500 $0
HST $898,328 $831,179 $898,328 $0
Total $51,939,700 $48,057,277 $51,939,700 $0
The overall status update for this project can be found under Attachment #1.
Fire Hall 4-5
Overall progress of the project is satisfactory.
Construction update: The installation of slab on grade, interior wall construction and
servicing has commenced. Masonry walls on the mezzanine are 90% complete, on the
second floor are 70% complete and on the ground floor are 55% complete. Exterior
walls are almost completed and awaiting for the final stages of roof installation. Once
roof is completed, exterior walls will be finished, and installation of windows will
commence.
Project Schedule
The minor delays to the progress of work have occurred due to inclement weather.
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Town’s Major Capital Projects Update
September 14, 2021 4 of 6
Milestone Baselined Completion Expected Completion
Occupancy February 28, 2022 March 7,2022
Substantial Performance March 8, 2022 March 15, 2022
Total Completion May 25, 2022 June 1, 2022
Budget Status:
Description Approved Budget Committed Payment to Date
Architect $600,000 $600,000 $531,086
Tender Revised Bid $11,027,545 $11,027,545 $6,315,045
Cash Allowances $856,500 $89,150 $75,299
Contingency (10%) $1,083,682 $856,951
Public Art $36,100 $36,100 $36,100
Project Management $51,200 $51,200 $0
Total Budget $13,655,027 $12,588,738 $6,957,530
Note: The Non-recoverable HST (1.76%) is included in all figures
Currently there are seventeen (17) Change Orders have been approved. The total
amount of the approved Change Orders is $856,951 that has been drawn from the
construction contingency.
The overall status update for this project can be found under Attachment #1.
Joint Operations Centre Additional Work
The objective of this project is to complete the outstanding capital works of the JOC.
The project is divided into thirteen (13) sub-projects. The following table reflects the
status of each sub-project.
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Town’s Major Capital Projects Update
September 14, 2021 5 of 6
Sub-Project Status
Back Lot Paving and Full Build Out Complete
Upper Parking Lot and Rear Yard Complete
Garbage Tipping Station Complete
Automated Gate Control Complete
South Side Exterior Finishing Complete
Furniture Complete
Entry Pylon Exterior Sign This is a part of the Exterior Pylon Sign project
for the Town’s facilities
Intercom System Cancelled
Third Floor Build Out Complete
Building Exterior Sign Complete
Soil Quality at Back of Property Complete
JOC Landscaping In progress – Remaining fencing will be
completed by end of October 2021
Storage Buildings In progress – Design phase is completed, and it
will be out for tender in fall for construction in
2022
Budget Status:
Budget Status Cost Note
Approved Budget $2,185,200
Committed $1,445,525 66% project budget
The overall status update for this project can be found under Attachment #1.
Financial System
Overall Project Status:
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Town’s Major Capital Projects Update
September 14, 2021 6 of 6
The Town has engaged a consultant to assist it in its financial system requirement
gathering. The consultant has completed multiple consultations of the Town’s key
stakeholders and desired future state process maps in support of the development of
the Town’s financial system requirements. The Town anticipates issuing the Financial
System’s RFP by end of Q3, 2021.
Project Schedule
Milestone Baselined Completion Expected Completion
Phase I - Financial System
Requirements Development End of Q3, 2021 End of Q3, 2021
Phase II – New Financial
System Purchase and
Implementation
End of Q4, 2023 End of Q4, 2023
Budget Status:
The budget for this project includes the cost for the consulting engagement, the new
system, and the cost for two full-time equivalent staff to be assigned to the project
through-out its implementation.
Budget Status Cost Note
Approved Budget $1,500,000
Committed $135,869 9% project budget
The overall status update for this project can be found under Attachment #1.
Attachments
Attachment #1 – Major Capital Project Update:
Aurora Town Square
Fire Hall 4-5
Joint Operations Centre Additional Work
Page 14 of 15
PROJECT NAME BEGIN FINISH
(Total Completion)# of DAYS STATUS PROJECTE
D
COMMITTE
D
REMAIND
ER STATUS
Firehall - Construction Phase May 20, 2020 June 1, 2022 742 On schedule $13,655,027 $12,588,738 $1,066,289 On budget
JOC - Additional Work October 1, 2018 December 30, 2022 1551 On schedule $2,185,200 $1,445,525 $739,675 On budget
Aurora Town Square -
Construction Phase
October 5, 2020 November 30, 2022 786 On schedule $51,939,489 $48,057,277 $3,882,212 On budget
Total $67,779,716 $62,091,540 $5,688,176
Project Status Legend
On schedule Everything is progressing as planned. No intervention from the sponsor is required
Concerned Some risks and issues have been identified but the project team is handling and monitoring them
Delayed/Over budget Major problems affected the project timeline and budget. The sponsor's intervention is required in this case
Attachment#1Major Capital Projects Update Summary - September 2021
Timeline BUDGET
Page 15 of 15