Every day your tax dollars provide programs and services to improve the quality of life for you and your family. In a typical day residents will use or witness most City services being provided, such as water, curbside collection, roads, traffic signals and street lights, libraries, parks, police, fire & snow removal, just to name a few.
Here are some of the major services residents rely on, the total annual amount paid per home* in 2023 for each, and highlights of the provided services.
City Services
* Numbers based on the 2023 Budget & typical Barrie home assessed at $365,040.| Service & Amount | What You Get |
|---|
| Fire & Emergency Service: $433 | - 24/7 availability
- Response to over 10,000 calls for service while achieving a travel time under 6 minutes approximately 90% of the time (2022)
- Emergency communications service for over 30,000 incidents across 22 municipalities serving a population of almost 900,000 (2022)
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| Roads & Traffic Operations: $282 | - Maintenance of 1593 km of roads, 630 km of sidewalks, including winter control, road resurfacing, pothole repairs, street sweeping, and more
- Maintenance of 103 km of watercourse, 417 km of storm sewers, 98 storm ponds, and BCRY Railway operations on 37 km of track
- Response to 8,900+ service requests annually (2022)
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| Transit: $239 | - Daily operation and maintenance of a 46-bus conventional fleet
- 15 specialized transit buses for persons with mobility difficulties
- Service provided 7 days a week through a private contractor
- Transit ON Demand service
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| Recreation & Culture: $166 | |
| Economic & Creative Development: $34 | - Services include business retention and expansion activities, attracting new businesses, site selection services, talent attraction and retention, tourism development, growing industrial clusters
- Deploying provincially funded programs aimed at starting and growing small businesses and strengthening the arts & culture sector
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| Parks & Forestry: $121 | - Care of 35,000 City-owned street trees and 994 hectares of natural areas.
- Inspection & maintenance of 147 km+ of trails.
- Inspection & maintenance of all equipment and play areas at 131 parks.
- Maintenance of parkland, including sports fields, dog off-leash areas, disc golf, and passive use areas
- Maintenance of horticulture displays located in the City’s parks, Arboretum and downtown
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| Solid Waste Operations: $93 | - Residential curbside collection of garbage/organics, recycling, and leaf and yard waste
- Landfill site operations, including hazardous waste collection and disposal
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| Development Services: $30 | |
Service Partners
Service Partners, including Barrie Police Service, County of Simcoe and the Barrie Public Library, make up approximately 32% of the City of Barrie's annual budget. City Council has limited control over service partner spending requests, as these partners do not report directly to City Council, but rather Council has representation on the governance bodies they report to.
* Numbers based on the 2023 Budget & typical Barrie home assessed at $365,040.| Service & Amount | What You Get |
|---|
| Barrie Police: $946 | - Provides 24/7 emergency response across Barrie
- Specialty units address complex investigations such as crimes against persons, human trafficking, tech crimes, homicide, and fraud
- Additional areas of importance include courthouse security, crime prevention, traffic services, and community safety and well-being initiatives
- Civilian members are integral in units such as finance, records and information management services, human resources, and I.T., and work alongside sworn members to help deliver services to the community
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| County of Simcoe: $409 | - Provides land ambulance and social services including long term care and seniors services, Ontario Works, children’s services, community services (including poverty reduction programs), and social housing
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| Libraries: $141 | - The Barrie Public Library’s (BPL) three locations (Downtown, Painswick, Holly), offer a wide range of services including 100+ programs each month for all ages
- Residents can access the digital library 24/7 for eBooks, eAudiobooks, movies, learning tools and more!
- In 2023, outreach expanded with the BPL on the GO van and e-trike delivering essential services across the city
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