South Frontenac Council – Tuesday, January 22

Wilma Kenny | Jan 23, 2019

Eleven Delegations or Submissions for 2019 Budget

• A wide range of largely volunteer-run non-profit programs asked for financial or in-kind support from Council. These included:
• New Leaf Link, a South Frontenac-based program providing fully accessible physical and social activities for young adults with special needs.
• Portland District and Area Museum, soon to become South Frontenac Museum, need support to develop a strategic plan.
• John MacDougall reminded Council of the ongoing work to develop affordable housing for seniors.
• Inverary Youth Activities, the group managing Inverary’s Ken Garrett Park, need help to install accessible washrooms.
• Land o’Lakes Traditional Music Hall of Fame made a modest request for $200.
• Southern Frontenac Community Services and Frontenac Arch Biosphere made presentations last week.
• Some asked for upgrades to roads and services:
• Cottagers and residents of Massassauga Road circulated photos of the potholes, mud and generally awful state of their road.
• Burnt Hills Road needs to have the sumac and other brush trimmed back.
• Perth Road Crafters sent a long list of repairs, painting and general maintenance needed in Harris Park Hall.
• The Colliers suggested installing a canoe/kayak ramp at Gilmour Point.

And an intriguing suggestion: Initiate a one-week exchange event, when residents put out still-useful items for other residents to take home for free. At the end of the week, the Township provides a (perhaps limited) collection service for what remains.

“There’s Old Math, New Math and South Frontenac Math”
South Frontenac resident John Fuller’s budget-related presentation to Council was calm and polite, but he was very clear about his frustration and dissatisfaction. His concern related to the solid waste cost, which up until two years ago had been recorded as a flat rate special charge on the tax bill. (Over the years, the names morphed from ‘garbage' to ‘solid waste’, and from ‘local and misc’ to ‘special charges’, but the process stayed the same. ) Then in 2016, that flat rate was rolled into the municipal levy as an assessment based charge. This meant that for anyone assessed above what was calculated as the average property value, the basic garbage rate rose in proportion to the increased assessment.

Fuller’s request was that the garbage cost be returned to a set flat rate, not related to one’s property value. And that the past two years overpayment be refunded as a credit on the 2019 taxes. And that henceforth, in the name of transparency, any future changes of this nature should be clearly and immediately communicated to residents.

Fuller said he had planned a much longer presentation, until he told Deputy Mayor Sleeth about it: Sleeth quickly arranged a meeting between Fuller, Mayor Vandewal and Treasurer Fragnito. Fuller said they had provided some helpful explanations of the budget process.

Council is meeting this Saturday Jan 26, starting at 9 am and going for as long as it takes, to work their way through the draft budget.

Committee Appointments
Council finalized citizen appointments to various Township Committees:

Committee of Adjustment: Bedford District, Mike Nolan; Portland District, Tom Bruce; Loughborough District, Mike Howe; Storrington District, Ken Gee. Police Services Board: Edward Puszkar.

The remaining Committees continue as before, with occasional changes: full listings are contained in the agenda notes for this meeting on the Township’s web page.