Community Gardens in Burlington

Gardening has been shown to improve the mental health and wellness of gardeners. Many Burlington residents, especially those in high-rise buildings, don’t have access to a garden.

The City of Burlington manages 231 community garden plots. Eight plots are assigned to food security organizations, leaving 223 for residents. Each plot rents for $65 (plus tax) for the season. This is a popular program with a wait list.

Gardens are located at Amherst Park, Central Park, Francis Road Bikeway, Ireland Park, and Maple Park. A community garden is planned for Nelson Park.

What are the costs to taxpayers?

Municipalities split costs into two groups: capital and operating. Capital costs are typically one-time expenses like buying a new bus or building a new community garden. Operating costs are ongoing and include things like people (staff) and maintenance.

Community Garden Capital Costs

The 2023 budget allocated $510,000 for the construction of new community gardens over 10 years.

The City of Burlington report RCC-06-23 states that the cost of adding a new garden is $170,000. The same report shows that Burlington had 5 gardens operating in 2018.

Putting this in context, there are 223 plots available to the public today, and about 400 people are applying for a plot; in other words, an additional 117 plots are required to meet the demand. The budget doesn’t tell us how many additional plots will be added for $510,000.

Community Garden Operating Costs

The annual costs to run the gardens include:

• 1 Full-time “Community Garden Coordinator” who, in 2023, earned $72,000 plus benefits, coming to a total of at least $80,000 a year. This salary will have gone up since 2023.
• 4 part-time Garden Assistants, summer students, cost $39,000.
• Gardens are renewed/maintained every 5 years at a cost of $30,000 per site. There are currently five garden sites; assuming one site is renewed each year, the cost is $30,000 a year.

The community gardens’ balance sheet, based on information we were able to find, looks like this

Income from plot rentals	$15,000
Expenses
Full-time coordinator	$80,000
Summer Students and Supplies	$39,000
1 garden per year renewal	$30,000
Total expense	$149,000
Annual taxpayer subsidy	$134,000

Looking at this on a per-plot basis, each plot costs $580 a year to operate and brings in $65 a year in revenue, leaving taxpayers providing an annual subsidy of $515 per plot. Burlington provides many programs for residents, and taxpayers subsidize those programs. However, pools, libraries, parks, rinks, etc., are used by thousands of people.

Sharing this information with residents is not an effort to end an important program. Looking at these details does raise some questions:

Is there a better way to run this program?

Should more of the work be done by volunteers? 

Should the fees be higher with a subsidy for people who qualify for Halton’s SPLIT program?

Would corporate sponsorship/advertising help? Travel and leisure, balcony garden companies, etc.

Are there other options?

In general, when the city conducts a survey, should the costs be outlined in the survey?

While community gardens promote mental health, the cost of the program may have the opposite effect on taxpayers.