April 21, 2011
Town to set zero hike
by Denise Walker
“We wanted to give our taxpayers a break,” said Laurentian Hills Mayor
Dick Rabishaw last week.
Rabishaw was speaking at the start of a special council meeting to
discuss the 2011 budget.
“The break” taxpayers will get is that there will be no increase in the
municipal tax rate this year.
Water and sewer users will get the same deal, zero per cent increase in
the water and sewer charges for 2011.
CAO Wayne Kirby explained how staff proposed to meet council’s request
to aim for a zero increase.
To begin with, the town will get an additional $150,000 in revenue from
increased assessment in 2011.
Other revenues helping the town include $85,850 from the federal
government in gas tax grants, and $261,900 from the provincial
community reinvestment fund.
Kirby cautioned that the town can only control the town’s own tax rate.
“We have no control over assessments,” he said.
Individual homeowners may find themselves paying more if the value of
their property has risen. County and education taxes will also be added
to the bill.
Despite the lack of a tax increase, council still plans some
significant expenditures in 2011.
The budget includes $175,000 for road rebuilding, and $62,000 for
gravel. This year the town will complete the resurfacing of Wylie Road,
and will remediate a number of roads, including Kings, Sand, and Frazer
Roads.
Another $65,000 will be spent on replacing the computing hardware and
software for the town’s billing system. Kirby explained that $55,000 of
the cost would come from reserves.
In all, the town will transfer $143,000 from reserves in 2011, but will
also put $256,500 back into reserves this year.
The budget sets aside almost $152,000 for recreation this year. This
includes money for beach shelter repairs, a porta-potty at Burkes
Beach, and $15,000 for playground equipment in Chalk River. The
playground, on Bob Seguin Drive, will be fully wheelchair accessible.
The library board will get a 2.5 per cent increase, bringing their
funding close to $92,000.
Policing costs are set to rise by around $30,000 this year. Most of the
increase lies with the cost of the OPP contract.
The contract cost was $326,500 in 2010, and will increase to $353,500
in 2011. In all, the town is budgeting $372,000 for policing costs this
year.
On top of that there will be $25,000 put into the reserves to offset
potential policing cost increases in 2012.
Wages will rise by two per cent across the board for all town staff,
including councillors.
Mayor Dick Rabishaw explained he had looked at increases across the
county and said that two per cent appeared to be average.
“Some I looked at got a little more, some a little less,” he said, “but
two per cent seems to be the right ballpark.”
For the water and sewer system, Rabishaw said the work done last year
“has paid off big time.”
Rabishaw said the operator of the plant had told him that, “the water
is now so clear you can compare it to distilled water.”
The town expects to see overtime costs sharply reduced at the two
plants as a result of the system improvements.
The next major overhaul will be to the sewer system. The town has
applied for grants to upgrade the sewer system. Rabishaw said the work
was essential for future development.
“We have two big developments waiting to go,” he said, “as soon as we
can tell them what sewer capacity they can have.”
The lone member of the public present, Rick Basso, wanted to know the
extent of the town’s long term debt.
Rabishaw told him, “I am delighted you have asked that question. The
answer is none, we don’t have any. In fact we have over a million
(dollars) in our own reserves, so we can borrow from ourselves if we
need to.”
Rabishaw said this was a “good news budget” and thanked both staff and
councillors for their efforts.
Council will adopt the budget at its regular April meeting on April 20.
The full budget bylaw will have to wait until May, when the education
and county rates have been set.
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