BARRIE - Barrie can’t afford a tax freeze – it just delays the pain and makes it worse a few years down the road, said the chairperson of the city’s finance committee.

During a breakfast meeting with business leaders Tuesday, Coun. Jeff Lehman defended a plan calling for a 2.4 per cent tax increase, along with a series of as-yet undefined hikes to user fees, including water and sewer rates.

“Our reserves for future infrastructure were woefully low and they continue to be, compared to other cities,” Lehman said of the city’s finances, when this council took office in 2006.

“We have tried to change that. The huge challenge we have is keeping tax and user rates down while doing capital work, like fixing roads, and still putting money away for the future.

"Last year, the story was stimulus and the issue was the recession. Last year, we have the largest capital plan in the city’s history. 2009 was the year of the big check.

“2010 will be the year the work gets done.

"Most of those stimulus projects will get done in 2010,” he said, adding they face a March 31, 2011 deadline.

The projects include a new fire station, the surface water treatment plant and the new south-end library.

Freezing taxes and water and sewer rates in 2010 would mean the city would quickly fall into debt, he said, referring to a chart forecasting $12 million in the red in 2012 and rising to $19.5-million shortfall by 2014 if a freeze was to be implemented next year.

“The world doesn’t stand still. Costs rise,” he said. “When you (freeze taxes and user fees), you end up further behind.”

Freezing upgrades isn’t an option as Barrie residents demand a better road network and better-maintained roads, according to a citizen survey conducted this summer.

Corporate services commissioner Ed Archer told business leaders the city’s taxes are very affordable compared with other cities and local average household income is rising.

The city must work to change public perceptions, he said.

“Our taxes may be low, but there’s a perception we’re not providing value for money. We’re improving the road network and creating new policies that will manage our new lands as well as creating an economic development strategy,” he said. “We’re not done yet.”