Consultants with the Eastern Ontario Regional Network (EORN) are now reviewing information they gathered from the townships of Algonquin Highlands, Dysart et al, Highlands East and Minden Hills, as well as the County of Haliburton.
They are also looking over the feedback they received from the community during open houses and from a public survey. They are expected to come back to County council at the end of this month with an interim affordability and governance report.
One thing we’ve heard for years from taxpayers is why we need five chief administrative officers (CAOs), five treasurers, five planners, five heads of public works, and four fire chiefs. Reviewing the 2025 sunshine list – which shows public servants earning more than $100,000-a-year, it is hard not to agree with the public that a lot of our tax dollars go towards highly-paid staff at the upper and lower-tier governments.
The County has 35 folks on the list, but many of them are paramedics. It is hard to take exception with the folks literally saving our lives getting paid well to do it. However, there are a number of managers making well over $1 million combined.
In Algonquin Highlands, there are seven on the list, costing ratepayers nearly $900,000. In Highlands East, there are another eight, with a payroll of about $929,000. In Minden Hills, there are eight highly-paid staffers, raking in more than $919,000. And, in Dysart et al, nine have made the list, at about $1.2 million.
Those are just the bosses. By the numbers, then, we see nearly $5 million just for top municipal staffers – before even getting into the rank and file.
Payroll is the number one cost to the County and our four municipalities. And that is for a permanent population of 23,000 people, growing to 45,000 to 60,000 in the summer. Those numbers simply don’t add up to me. I wonder if they add up for the EORN consultants?
Some have argued we have far too many politicians as well. We do have 24, with eight of them also sitting on County council, so technically 32 political positions. I don’t worry so much about that because at the end of the day, political salaries are quite low, combined often less than one per cent of a township’s budget.
So, how does EORN find affordability in this study? It has to look at how the County and the townships are working – or in some cases not working – together to find the answers. Is it feasible to see more roles being shared? For example, could the County take on the planning portfolio? It makes sense since some developments have to go through townships and the County before being approved. Could that eliminate the need for five heads of planning?
EORN will no doubt be looking at other efficiencies. For example, how about hiring a mechanic or lawyer for all five municipalities, versus each contracting the work out?
We anticipate the EORN consultants are asking these types of questions as they place all five townships on their version of a military map and begin to move the pieces around.
We look forward to seeing what they come up with.
