Addington Highlands does well for 2019 in annual audit

Craig Bakay | Jul 08, 2020

Addington Highlands is in pretty good shape financially, Adam Young of Secker, Ross & Perry told Addington Highlands Council during its regular online meeting Tuesday during its annual audit review.

“Cash and short-term investments are up, as is the accumulated surplus, reserves and tangible assets and total assets are up a little bit through last year,” he said. “Municipal debt has dropped and costs for the closure of the Kaladar waste site have dropped by $600,000.”

In fact the only financial metric that isn’t in the greatest of shape is taxes receivable, which is slightly over $1 million and growing.

“This is towards the upper end of municipalities in Ontario,” he said. “But the regular items of the Township are moving through rather smoothly.”

Taxes receivable have been taking a bit of a hit through 2020 as well, as the Township opted not to charge interest for overdue taxes through the first three months of the Covid-19 epidemic.

Dep. Reeve Tony Fritsch picked up on the epidemic asking if Young had any advice for rural municipalities during these times, noting “it’s not like we have a transportation system facing reduced ridership or anything like that.”

“One thing I’m seeing is an increase in community programs asking for assistance with wages and rent,” Young said. “But you have a fairly strong balance sheet and your debt is manageable.

“I’m looking at cash flow for you especially in terms of property taxes as a lot of your ratepayers are in different situations.”

He suggested the Township might want to look at some capital projects to see if there’s flexibility there.

“Some contractors have had contracts cancelled (and) there could be opportunities to get work done at a good price,” he said.

Young said in a way they were fortunate to get most of the audit done before the Covid crisis hit.

“We started back in the fall and worked into March,” he said. “Had we started later, it could have been quite different in terms of physical distancing.”

But overall, he said, things are in good shape.

“There weren’t any unusual transactions — if there were, you would have heard about it before this — and no accounting areas or disagreements.”

Sidewalk removal

At the request of a resident, Council approved the removal of a sidewalk at 3533 Flinton Road.

Roads and waste management supervisor Brett Reavie told Council the sidewalk is higher than the resident’s driveway, which results in his garage experiencing some flooding.

“Removal in just that one area would be a lot cheaper than replacement,” he said. “And I don’t think there has been any sidewalk maintenance since I’ve been here.”

“No, or winter maintenance either,” agreed Reeve Henry Hogg. “It’s not just in Flinton, there are some sidewalks in Cloyne (in need of repair).”

“I’m torn,” said Coun. Helen Yanch, who voted against the measure. “The sidewalks have been there for years and years but we haven’t been looking after them very well.”

Cannabis nuisance

Council discussed several options for the control of cannabis grow-operations, including a nuisance bylaw and amendments to the Zoning Bylaw to address citizen concerns and complaints.

Many of the measures deal with setbacks and efforts to control odors but Dep. Clerk/Planning secretary Patricia Gray said “it wouldn’t be legal to impose conditions that would amount to prohibitions.”

The measures wouldn’t apply to the four-plant recreational-use rule.

Office construction

Work is going well on the new municipal office additions in Flinton, CAO Christine Reed told Council but there is one wrinkle that’s been causing her concern.

“We’re about 57 per cent through our project the water tank for firefighting, which was originally supposed to be underground, is now a mound of dirt,” she said. “That will make an enticing jump for snowmobiles and four-wheelers.”

Council agreed to call for tenders to provide fencing and landscaping around the tank.

“Take an eyesore and make it an asset,” said Coun. David Miles.

Ditching

On the advice of Roads and waste manager Brett Reavie, Council decided to add an additional cross culvert on Clark Line Road to properly drain the east ditch. This cross ditch would drain into an existing farmer’s ditch.

“To be proactive, I discussed it with him and came to an agreement that we would wait construction until crops were removed and that we would need to clean out the existing ditch to handle increased flow,” Reavie said.

“I can see emails flying about the Township doing ditching on private property,” said Reeve Henry Hogg.

“I disagree, Henry,” said Dep. Reeve Tony Fritsch. “Somebody will be getting a phone call.

“But it’s done for all the right reasons.”

Cuddy perturbed

Fire Chief Casey Cuddy was noticeably perturbed about an outage of Bell 911 and long-distance services which also took out internet on June 15.

“Emergency services were never notified,” Cuddy said. “It affected all 333, 336 and 479 exchanges.

“At 9:30 p.m., I communicated with the Provincial Emergency Operations Centre and they were unaware of any outage.

“We’ve been telling people for years to call 911 in an emergency and now this happens.”

Council passed a resolution to petition the CRTC and both the federal and provincial governments to require Bell Canada to develop and adopt an emergency plan to notify local emergency services affected by a 911 outage.