{"id":29263,"date":"2021-05-07T00:03:12","date_gmt":"2021-05-07T04:03:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=29263"},"modified":"2021-05-07T00:03:16","modified_gmt":"2021-05-07T04:03:16","slug":"business-improvement-area-budget-approved-for-2021","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/business-improvement-area-budget-approved-for-2021\/","title":{"rendered":"Business Improvement Area budget approved for 2021"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The work of Aurora\u2019s Downtown Business Improvement Area (BIA) will continue through the rest of the year following Council\u2019s approval of their budget last week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On a vote of 5 \u2013 2, Council gave the green light to a $37,533 ask that will go towards several projects designed to make Aurora\u2019s historic downtown core a destination, including beautification programs and the creation of a COVID-safe outdoor gathering space just north of the Clocktower\/Post Office building.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The BIA is funded through a $40,000 tax levy that is funded solely from property taxes collected in the BIA\u2019s catchment area, which is portions Yonge and Wellington Corridor closest to the intersection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This year\u2019s number reflects leftovers from previous years and cost-savings from projects put on the backburner in light of the global pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Opposing the budget request were Councillors Rachel Gilliland and John Gallo who said there wasn\u2019t enough information before them to indicate that there was a true buy-in from impacted property owners, particularly as a recent meeting of the BIA membership failed to reach quorum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBecause of the lack of quorum, it is tough for me to accept them as approved finances,\u201d said Councillor Gilliland. \u201cI want nothing more than to have this BIA and everybody to succeed in moving forward, I love the fact that they are trying to move this initiative forward, but at the same time there is a process. Within that period of time, it was concerning to learn that a lot of the tenants didn\u2019t understand they had voting rights at that time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know what the rush is, quite frankly.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The timing, noted Town Treasurer Rachel Wainwright-van Kessel was that the BIA tax levy needed to be approved in time for 2021 property taxes to go out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHere we are with time put against us, having to make this decision without having the proper information,\u201d Councillor Gilliland continued, adding she would prefer to take a vote on the matter after the BIA\u2019s meeting this month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Similarly, Councillor Gallo said it was \u201ckind of a leap of faith\u201d to believe the majority of BIA members are \u201csatisfied with everything that is going on.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI did reach out to two different people and both of them were not at the meetings; one was aware of the meeting and I don\u2019t think had all the information for that meeting,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s definitely some work to do and I think in their budget they are putting some money towards trying to fix those problems. I really don\u2019t know how many members are on board with what the BIA is proposing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy preference would have also been to wait until their next AGM and have a better understanding in terms of what the membership feels and, to be honest, it is up to them to communicate to us if they are not happy. I have to reach out because I knew it was on the agenda but I haven\u2019t heard from anyone saying we have some serious issues with this. One could conclude they are happy. You could also conclude they just don\u2019t know, they weren\u2019t involved, apathy \u2013 we just don\u2019t know and I don\u2019t know which it is.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aurora CAO Doug Nadorozny added that although it was a \u201cless than perfect process\u201d he hasn\u2019t heard any objections to the proposed levy, nor had Mayor Tom Mrakas who said, \u201cI didn\u2019t speak to just one or two, I spoke to the majority of the property owners and the majority of tenants and I have no issues. I have heard no complaints. I have received no emails. I have received no phone calls from any property owner or any tenant in that area, and trust me when I say this: I receive quite a few emails and phone calls. On this one? Zero.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Town Solicitor Patricia De Sario noted that there has been no requirement for the BIA to vote on the budget since its inception two years ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere are some questions about the rules and procedures they have in place and perhaps that is a role for staff and us to support the BIA,\u201d said Councillor Michael Thompson. \u201cBecause they are essentially established through us, through a bylaw, and have guidance with the Municipal Act, I am sure it is important for them to have policies and procedures in place in how they govern their meetings and what is required of them, and if they don\u2019t already have them there let\u2019s help support them and get them in place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen it was first established\u2026 I think there are some guidelines and rules out there. If any of the current members have issues, they can certainly look to that as guidance to see whether or not things were done correctly. Let\u2019s support them because at the end of the day a BIA is a good thing. It is meant to help our downtown merchants. The majority of them wanted the BIA, they were the ones who came to us and said, \u2018Let\u2019s formulate it,\u2019 and they did so. We need it even more so now as we look to try and come out of COVID and re-establish small businesses in the Downtown Core. Any help we can provide our businesses would be great. I look forward to a normal year where they can show residents and the merchants what they can do to help them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Brock Weir<\/strong>
Editor
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter<\/em><\/p>\n\r\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The work of Aurora\u2019s Downtown Business Improvement Area (BIA) will continue through the rest of the year following Council\u2019s approval of their budget last week. On a vote of 5 \u2013 2, Council gave the green light to a $37,533 ask that will go towards several projects designed to make Aurora\u2019s historic downtown core a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":29245,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29263","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/2021-05-06-03.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-7BZ","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-14 15:05:03","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29263","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29263"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29263\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29245"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29263"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29263"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29263"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}