Minden Hills residential ratepayers are looking at just over a five per cent overall levy increase this year, with council expected to formally pass the 2025 budget at a Feb. 13 council meeting.
Coun. Tammy McKelvey was prepared to continue meeting Feb. 4 to try to find more revenue for the township, and to bring the levy down, but her colleagues wanted to finalize the document so staff could get on with the business of running the corporation.
McKelvey asked fellow councillors if they were content with the outcome.
Mayor Bob Carter played the numbers game, saying it equated to about a three per cent levy jump for municipal services, with the township having to come up with a 0.84 per cent increase for OPP, and putting 1.25 per cent towards infrastructure investment.
“Not many businesses are able to go yearto-year at 3.1 per cent,” Carter said. “Staff has done an outstanding job of keeping these costs down. I am not willing to sacrifice our future to have a short-term savings now. Am I happy? No, I’m not happy, but I think the 3.1 per cent is a reasonable number that people have to accept to keep this municipality strong.”
Per $100,000 of residential assessment, the impact is $22.99-a-year, or six cents a day, for taxpayers. Capital investments amount to $6,833,887 in 2025.
The mayor said that going into budget talks last November, he was worried the increase would be double digits, so this was, “as good as we are going to be able to do at this point. It is a budget, not an exact science.” He wanted to move on and get 2025 projects started.
Deputy mayor Lisa Schell said she was not content with the final number either, but said it reflected the reality of “what is required from staff to get moving on the 2025 operations of the corporation. Do I like the number? No, but I think it could have been a lot higher. We will get quarterly reports from finance, but I’d like to see tenders go out, and competitive bidding begin.”
McKelvey reiterated she’d like to look at some revenue areas to bring the tax levy down, and said it was, “not responsible to try to not bring these taxes down when we can look at things.” An example she used was bank interest.
But Coun. Pam Sayne said she did not think they would find savings to warrant spending more staff time sitting in special council meetings for the budget. She noted with provincial and federal elections looming, municipalities had to keep lobbying upper tier governments for a bigger share of the funding pie.
“I don’t like 5.2 per cent either, I’d prefer inflation, but that is not happening with downloads.” She said they needed to educate the public about why municipal tax rates are rising.
CAO Cynthia Fletcher said, “things will change and we’ll modify things throughout the year. True costs will only be known once we’ve tendered out our projects, or sought quotes for any of the services we need. There may be unforeseen things that come throughout the year, and at every turn we will come back to have discussion with council. We may be able to bring more work forward. We may have to defer some things. We may have to reallocate some things.”
She added their goal was to “keep the tax rate at a reasonable level, while maintaining current service levels where possible, and we feel we have presented you with a fair proposal today.”
Some key decisions:
• Council decided not to proceed with pound services from Paws at Killara Station.
• $50,000 to release an expression of interest seeking a partner or partners for the re-development of the Lochlin Community Centre property.
.• Hiring two additional summer students to support the new in-house lawncare maintenance program.
• New vehicles: $65,000 for a pick-up truck for environmental services from the roads reserve; $65,000 for one for community services from the parks reserve; $440,112 for a replacement excavator and float trailer for public works from the roads reserve.
• Roads: Davis Lake Road will receive surface treatment at a cost of $907,952, mostly from taxation, but some grant money. Another $183,817 for surface treatment of roads. Again, there is some grant money. Some $346,509 to convert some roads to gravel (Miners Bay and a portion of Buller Road), using tax money, reserves and grants. Another $170,881 for slurry seal of parts of Scotch Line Road and Wigamog Road.
• An initial spend of $257,500 to replace the Minden Curling Club roof, plus insulation. They have a grant application pending. And, an additional $40,000 for a new roof system for the cultural centre and library.
• $303,331 from reserves to put towards accessibility upgrades at buildings. They did get a $1,137,350 grant.
• Money for security cameras at the cultural centre and library to combat vandalism. $22,000 from reserves.
• $5,000 for a structure assessment of the Bailey Barn.
• A two per cent water rate increase and three per cent wastewater increase.
