StratfordToday received the following Letter to the Editor from reader John Lewis, in regard to Stratford's budget.
In a recent CBC article written about how Orangeville is offering free transit to city residents it stated how much their transit system costs their taxpayers. I thought it would be interesting to compare their transit system to Stratford’s. Then I became curious as to how they compared in several other municipal departments.
First, let’s compare the cities themselves. Orangeville has a population of 31,000 and covers an area of 15.16 km² for a population density of 1,989 people/km². Stratford has a population of 34,000 in an area of 30.02 km ² for a density of 1,107 people/km². So as far as population goes they are roughly the same size, but urban sprawl has definitely had a bigger impact on Stratford.
All figures are based on 2024 budgets.
Public Transit
Orangeville Transit has a budget of $1.2 million and is operated for the city by First Student Canada, the school bus company. Though the city doesn’t use school buses. Looking at the city’s transit map it doesn’t look as if its system's coverage is as great as Stratford’s, but the city’s website talks about expanding on demand service to “100% of the city”. They also use smaller buses and once again have free transit. Stratford Transit's budget was $3.7 million. Stratford’s transit budget has definitely been negatively impacted by urban sprawl.
Fire Department
Orangeville has a hybrid fire department made up of 20 full time firefighters and 32 volunteer firefighters. It has one fire station. Its budget is $5.8 million. Stratford’s fire department has, as far as I could find out, about 40 full time firefighters and two stations. Once again you’ve gotta love urban sprawl. Its budget is $9.8 million.
Police Department
In 2020 Orangeville decided to disband its city run police force and hire the OPP to patrol the city. Its police budget is $5.2 million. Stratford’s police budget is $13.8 million.
Collingwood, with a population of 30,000 has recently been upset that the amount the OPP is charging them is going up to $7.1 million in 2025. Stratford police are asking for a budget of $16 million in 2025.
If St. Marys got Stratford Police Services to patrol their town for less than the OPP charged them and Stratford taxpayers are paying double what the OPP would charge them are Stratford taxpayers in fact subsidizing St. Marys' policing?
Totals
Orangeville's three departments - $12.2 million.
Stratford’s three departments - $27.3 million.
One thing that this comparison shows is that two communities with relatively the same population can arrive at drastically different budget outcomes based on the choices they make. There is more than one way to do things and perhaps it’s time Stratford took a serious look at how it’s running things. Stratford is a medium sized town with a medium sized tax base. Not a major city.
John Lewis
Stratford
