Feature Article - January 5, 2006

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January 5, 2006

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Mayors consider their futures in election year

by Jeff Green

The Federal election campaign is getting a lot of attention as the New Year begins, but 2006 is also a municipal election year, and to ring in the New Year The News has polled the local Mayors and Reeves to see if they plan to seek re-election.

Addington Highlands Reeve Ken Hook said that he does not plan to seek re-election, opting instead to do some travelling.

“That’s not to say I might not return to municipal politics sometime in the future, but not this next time.”

Hook is serving his first term as Reeve, after serving as Councillor and Deputy Reeve for one three-year term. He said he has been particularly enthused by some of the Economic Development initiatives that have been undertaken in the township over the past few years, which he hopes to see continue.

Central Frontenac Mayor Bill MacDonald, who will have served as Mayor of Central Frontenac for nine years at the end of this current term, and served on the Council of the former township of Oso for several terms before municipal amalgamation in 1998, is undecided about his future in municipal politics.

MacDonald has mentioned often over the years that it has been a struggle to maintain his business interests and fulfill the obligations of the Mayor’s office, and this struggle has been accentuated in the past year as he has served as Frontenac County Warden.

He said that he might make some changes within the next year that could free up his time, and if he does that, running for a fourth term is a possibility.

MacDonald is optimistic about future prospects for Central Frontenac.

“In looking at the building statistics for Central Frontenac over the past couple of years, I think the prospects for economic development in the township are very good. I think people are realising that our proximity to Ottawa, Kingston and Peterborough is starting to be noticed and the township will be seeing economic improvement in the coming years. I am looking forward to the COMRIF funding announcement this winter, which will hopefully mean we can finally repair Road 38.”

MacDonald expects 2006 to be an active year at the County level, where the lobbying effort by the Eastern Ontario Warden’s Caucus for a better funding arrangement with the Province of Ontario is ongoing, and where ambulance issues are also of major concern. “Whether I run for re-election or not, I expect a lot of things to move forward this year, and I expect to be very busy” MacDonald said.

North Frontenac Mayor Ron Maguire said he expects to run for re-election.

“Things can always change, but my expectation is that I will run for a second term,” he said.

Maguire said that many of the plans he had as Mayor have taken time to bring about, and expects that a second term will allow him to see issues through to their resolution.

“We have worked hard for the past two years in developing a budgeting process, for example, and are beginning to work on multi-year budgeting, which is something I think will be very beneficial to the township in the long run,” Maguire said.

South Frontenac Mayor Bill Lake also plans to run for re-election in the fall. Lake is serving his first term as Mayor, although he has been involved in municipal politics for some time.

In looking at the past two years, Lake said he is pleased that the Sydenham Water Project is coming to fruition; is expected to be completed by the first of May; and seems to be coming in on budget as well.

“I tell people who are unhappy about the project,” Lake said, “‘talk to me in five years, you might think differently then.’”

Feature Article - February 23, 2006

Feature Article

February 23, 2006

Easy come easy go: County loses closeto$1 million a year in provincial funding

by Jeff Green

Frontenac County Treasurer Marion Vanbruinessen has taken a very cautious approach to a provincial money transfer under the Ontario Municipal Partnership Fund (OMPF), and it turns out this caution has saved the county from a potential fiscal nightmare.

When the OMPF funding formula was announced in 2005, Frontenac County was slated to receive $935,000.

But the county did not include that money in their 2005 budget, partly because it was not to be transferred until the end of the year, but also because Marion Vanbruinessen was unclear about how the funding had been determined, so the $935,000 was placed in a reserve fund.

Under the previous funding formula the county received no direct funding, although its member townships did.

In 2006, the county was also slated to receive a small increase in Ontario Municipal Partnership funding, to about $950,000, as reported in the Frontenac News on February 9. However, at that time Vanbruinessen told the News that she considered that the funding was not certain, because it was based on information that the City of Kingston had supplied to the province about shared programs with the county, and that information was incomplete.

When complete information was forwarded from the city to the province, it was determined that the allocations to the county were faulty, and the county will only be eligible for a small amount of money, at best.

When County Council meets on March 1 to hammer out their 2006 budget, they will not be able to use the $935,000 from 2005 that had been placed in a reserve account, because the province will be asking for that money back. And the promised $950,000 for 2006 has simply disappeared.

They are still better off, however, than they would have been if they had already started spending the money.

Feature Article - February 23, 2006

Feature Article

February 23, 2006

Province commits to ambulance funding:FrontenacCounty ambulance service welcomes announcement, but awaits details

by Jeff Green

Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty did not come empty handed when he addressed 1200 municipal politicians at the annual Good Roads/Rural Ontario Municipal Association (ROMA) in Toronto this week. In addressing a longstanding grievance between municipalities and the province, McGuinty announced that a historic shortfall in ambulance funding will be addressed.

Ambulance service was a provincial responsibility until 1998, when it became a municipally delivered service. At the time, the province committed to paying 50% of ambulance costs, but that promise has not been met.

Through a funding increase to an estimated $285 million this year, $333 million in 2006, and $385 million in 2008, McGuinty says the province will be paying 50% of ambulance costs by 2008.

“Municipalities have been patient but this is an issue of fairness,” McGuinty told municipal leaders, “I’m pleased that we are finally going to be able to achieve a true 50-50 partnership.

Ambulance service in Frontenac County and the City of Kingston are delivered by the Frontenac County Ambulance Service, and Paul Charbonneau, the Director for Emergency Services for Frontenac County, welcomed the commitment by the Ontario government.

“The real question will be about the criteria for the new funding, which I understand will be clarified in the coming weeks, but this is good news, it’s definitely good news,” Charbonneau told the News.

The province currently pays about 36% of the ambulance costs in Kingston and Frontenac County , according to Paul Charbonneau, while municipal taxpayers cover the other 64%.

Charbonneau was uncertain about how much extra funding will result from this announcement. He noted that last year when the Frontenac County Ambulance service put on an extra 24-hour ambulance into service, the provincial decided not the fund the new ambulance at all.

“I think it is very unlikely that the province will say, ‘Go ahead and spend whatever you need to spend for ambulance service, and we will pay half of the costs’, but we’ll have to wait and see the details about how the new money will be allocated,” Charbonneau said.

The ambulance funding issue has been high on the priority list for the Eastern Ontario Warden’s Caucus, of which Frontenac County is a member.

A day before the funding announcement, Paul Charbonneau accompanied Frontenac County Warden Bill Lake to a meeting with the Ontario Minister of Labour, Steve Peters, to discuss the county’s attempt to change provincial regulations regarding lunch breaks for paramedics. Last year, the Ministry of Labour ruled that guaranteed lunch breaks must be implemented among Frontenac County Paramedics, which has led to increased ambulance costs.

The county has been lobbying for regulatory changes for the past year.

As well as announcing new funding for ambulance service, Dalton McGuinty called for a federal-provincial-municipal commission to examine fiscal relations between the three levels of government, and said that the province will propose extending the term of office for municipal councillors and school trustees to four years from the current three years, a move which may be implemented in time for municipal elections this coming fall.

Feature Article - March 30, 2006

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Feature Article - March 30, 2006

COMRIFon hold

byJeffGreen

Results from the second intake of the COMRIF program, (the Canada Ontario Municipal Rural Infrastructure Program) are in a state of limbo pending some the go-ahead from the new federal government. The COMRIF program provides for 1/3 funding by the federal government, 1/3 funding from the provincial government, and 1/3 funding from municipal governments for approved capital projects. In the first COMRIF intake, none of projects sponsored by townships in Frontenac County were approved, and the results of the second intake were scheduled to be announced this past winter. The change in government has delayed the announcement, and no projected date for that announcement has been provided.

Central Frontenac applied to COMRIF for a long delayed reconstruction project on Road 38, North Frontenac for a widening of the Mississippi Bridge on Road 509, Addington Highlands for improvements to the Skootamatta Road , and South Frontenac for repaving of the network of former Frontenac County roads.

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Feature Article - March 9, 2006

Feature Article

March 9, 2006

SouthFrontenacCouncil

by Wilma Kenny

Sunday HuntingA delegation led by Rodger Jones asked Council to approve Sunday hunting during deer season in the Township. Mayor Lake pointed out that a motion to approve Sunday hunting had been defeated in May of last year, with only Councillor Barr supporting it, and it would require a 2/3 majority to bring a defeated motion back to Council so soon.

Proposed Changes to Fishing RegulationsWade Leonard spoke for a delegation asking Council to write a letter to the Ministry of Natural Resources asking them to delay making proposed changes in the fishing regulations for at least 18 months, so the economic/social impacts of these changes could be examined. He noted several reasons: the proposed regulations on catch sizes threatened to destroy tourism related to walleye fishing, without substantially protecting the fish population, and suggested that better education and enforcement, combined with closing the walleye season before spring spawning in March, would be more benefit for both the fish and the fishers. Council agreed to draw up the letter as recommended.

Bottle-to-Bottle Glass Recycling Council moved a resolution in support of introducing a deposit return system on glass beverage bottles.

ATV’s Trespassing Off-roadIn a letter to Council, a local resident noted that ATVs are trespassing on the Cataraqui Trail, and on trails in Gould lake Conservation Area, causing damage to the trail surfaces. He expressed concern that the damage would become much greater, once the trails thawed this spring. (Although the writer didn’t say so, ATVs have permission to travel on all roads in the Township.)

Longer Council Terms?The Ministry of Municipal Affairs has informed Council that the provincial government plans to propose legislative changes to the Municipal Elections Act which, if passed, would extend the term of office for Municipal councils and school boards from three years to four. "A four-year term would provide municipal councils with more time to plan and implement their agendas, in a similar fashion to the federal and provincial governments." If passed, the legislation would make the change effective for the 2006 municipal elections, and bring Ontario into step with half the other provinces in Canada .

Feature Article - March 2, 2006

Feature Article

March 2, 2006

Education taxes frozenby Jeff Green

At their meeting this week, Central Frontenac Council received some good news from the Ontario Ministry of Finance. Education taxes, which account for almost of the municipal budget, will not rise in 2006.

In fact, the education rate will be adjusted down to reflect property assessment increases.

“The government is again holding the line on education taxes, ensuring that, on average, homeowners and businesses will not see an increase in the education portion of their tax bills. The uniform residential education tax rate will be lowered to offset the average increase in assessed values across the province,” wrote Finance Minister Dwight Duncan.

Residents of Frontenac County may pay more than other parts of the province, however, because assessment increases in the county averaged 22% this year, higher than the provincial average.

Central Frontenac Mayor Bill MacDonald informed council that county taxes, which make up another of the municipal levy to taxpayers, “will have an increase under 10% this year, according to the preliminary budget.” County council meets this week to work through the budget. “I have my own ideas about where I would like to see the county budget end up,” said MacDonald, implying that the county budget increase can be lowered somewhat.

Central Frontenac Council will meet in late March to begin their own budgeting exercise.

Feature Article - March 2, 2006

Feature Article

March 2, 2006

Minister saysLineFencesAct will be revisedby Jeff Green

The Ontario government is poised to amend the century-old Line Fences Act, which could facilitate the development of recreational trails on former rail lines.

In a speech to municipal politicians in Toronto last week, John Gerretson, the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, said, “Our government intends to introduce amendments to Section 20 of the Line Fences Act … These amendments, if passed, would require owners of abandoned rail right-of-ways to pay 100 per cent of the costs for construction and maintenance of fences only where there are neighbouring farm businesses.”

Section 20 of the Line Fences Act stipulates that a municipality that purchases an abandoned rail line is responsible for 100% of fencing costs. Municipalities who have purchased rail lines with the intent to establish trails have downplayed this responsibility in the past.

However, adjacent landowners in several south-western Ontario municipalities have successfully gone to court to force the municipalities to pay for fencing. This has put a damper on the so-called Rails to Trails movement. Locally, both Central and South Frontenac have pulled back from purchasing railway lands as a result.

Restricting Section 20 of the Act to apply only to farm businesses would cut potential costs to municipalities considerably. All other landowners would have recourse to other sections of the act, which provide for shared costs for fencing.

Ralph Walton, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing, said that Minister Gerretson is promoting changes to the act that were identified in a government sponsored report released last year.

The minister “recognises there is a provincial and municipal interest in promoting agriculture, and this is balanced against the desire to promote opportunities for the public purchase of abandoned railroad right-of-ways for use in activities that can lead to economic development and improved recreational opportunities, such as trails,” Walton told the News.

Feature Article - March 2, 2006

Feature Article

March 2, 2006

Province instituting four-year municipal termby Jeff Green

Last week, Premier McGuinty announced that municipal terms of office will be extended to four years. The province intends to make legislative changes in the coming months to institute four-year terms in time for this year’s municipal election.

The announcement came about after a survey of municipal councils on the issue a few months ago. Rural councils favoured maintaining the current three-year terms, but they were overpowered by urban councils and the Association of Municipalities of Ontario, who all sought four-year terms.

In debates at local councils, three-year terms were supported in all cases. Four years was seen as too long a commitment for rural council members, who make a considerable time commitment when they serve on council, and receive only minimal pay for their efforts.

Susan Freeman, the Deputy Reeve of Tay Valley Township, said, “I and many of my rural colleagues have not supported this move; Tay Valley, Lanark County and most of Eastern Ontario have not supported four- year terms. We believe it was driven by those on city councils where their councillor and mayoral positions are full time with generous salaries.”

In a letter to municipal politicians, John Gerretson, Minister of Municipal Affairs wrote, “A four year term would provide municipal councils and school boards with more time to plan and implement their agendas, in a similar fashion to the federal and provincial governments.”

“This will make it that much harder to convince people to run for council,” said Central Frontenac Mayor Bill MacDonald.

Feature Article - June 8, 2006

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Feature Article - June 8, 2006

The $6 million road

by Jeff Green

As reported in this edition of the News, there were pats on the back all around last week to celebrate an agreement by three levels of government to bring Road 38 back from the brink of collapse.

The federal-provincial support will bring the township’s own cost to fix the road down to $1.3 million once they use up the last of the money that was granted to them when the road was dumped on their laps by the government on Ontario eight years ago.

The southern section of the road was repaired by the Ontario Ministry of Transportation (MTO) before the road was downloaded to the Township of South Frontenac , and presumably the MTO would have continued on repairing Hwy. 38 if the government of the day hadn’t decided to download the road, and the cost of repairing and maintaining it, to Central Frontenac.

The township of Central Frontenac , which maintains one of the highest municipal tax rates in the region, will still only bring in $4 million in taxes this year.

Before receiving the recent grant, Central Frontenac was facing a $5.3 million cost if they took on the needed road repairs themselves ($6 million minus the $700,000 that remained from a provincial grant that came with the road in 1998).

Imagine what kind of project cities like Ottawa of Toronto would be contemplating in order to spend 136% of their annual budget. The province would never consider foisting such a cost on a major municipal government, but that is just what happened to Central Frontenac when the Queen’s Highway 38 became township Road 38.

As one businessperson said to me last year, “No matter how much we are taxed, there is no way that we could pay for fixing that road; there aren’t enough of us.”

One way or another, a granting program from the province was going to have come through to cover this repair. That has been clear for years.

It could have been done more cheaply, of course, if the provincial repair crews had simply continued on when the southern portion was being repaired. That would have been simple. By shuffling the road to a township that would never be in a position to repair it, a ten-year delay was created, and delays cost lots of money when it comes to road construction.

It is the Province of Ontario that has gained in this process. By downloading the road, they are now only paying 1/3 of the cost instead of the entire cost. The construction this fall will still be 100% funded by tax dollars, just as it would have been back then, no matter how the cost is shuffled around

It is a great relief to taxpayers and municipal politicians in Central Frontenac that the road will finally be repaired.

But it’s hard to see how this is progress.

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Feature Article - June 15, 2006

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Feature Article - June 15, 2006

Ardoch Algonquins eyeCrown Land for band office

Co-Chiefs Randy Cota and Bob Lovelace and honourary Chief Harold Perry of the Ardoch Algonquin First Nation (AAFN) paid a visit to North Frontenac Council last week (June 8), and informed council of their imminent plans to build a band office and community centre on Crown land somewhere within the township.

Co-chief Randy Cota told council that, “There are in excess of 700 members of the Ardoch Algonquin First Nation, and a good number of them are in North Frontenac. We are at a crossroads. We are in the process of building a band office/community centre, and we are choosing between three different spots on Algonquin Land to build on. We would like North Frontenac to be involved in picking a spot.”

Co-Chief Cota added that the Ardoch Algonquins are expecting to start working on site preparation within the next two months.

Mayor Ron Maguire said that “if any of the sites are located on municipally owned land, it would be fairly straightforward to negotiate a purchase of the land from the township.”

“Whether we are looking at municipal or crown land, we don’t want to buy our own horse,” said Randy Cota, “but all of the land we are looking at is what you call crown land.”

“In that case, it is a matter for the MNR [Ministry of Natural Resources], not a matter for the township.”

“Will you follow the building code and other regulations?” asked Councillor Fred Perry.

“We’re not going to pay for a building permit, if that’s what you’re asking” said Randy Cota.

“That’s not what I’m asking,” replied Fred Perry, “I want to know if you will build according to the code.”

“Sure,” said Bob Lovelace, “it’s a good code, it makes sense to follow it.”

The decision by the Ardoch Algonquins to proceed with plans to build a band office/community centre on Crown land comes about as Algonquin land claim talks, which the Ardoch Algonquins are not participating in, are gaining a momentum after years of dormancy.

Co-Chief Lovelace talked briefly to council about the position the band has taken relative to the ongoing Algonquin land claim process.

“We got involved in negotiations 15 years ago.” Lovelace said, “They realised that the land claim needed to include ‘non-status’ Algonquin people, and we negotiated an understanding with them. We had certain conditions and these conditions have not been met and we have therefore not participated in the process.”

As a consequence of their non-participation, Lovelace said that the Ardoch Algonquins have had no success in their own attempts to negotiate with government officials.

“Frequently, Ardoch Algonquins have been hassled in the field by government officials. No one has been charged, but they have been hassled. We have made several attempts to discuss hunting and fishing issues with Ministry of Natural Resources over hunting and fishing, but they have not responded to our requests.”

Mayor Ron Maguire replied, “I am aware from the provincial government, that you need to be part of the land claim in order to assert your inherent or aboriginal rights.”

Ron Maguire represents the County of Frontenac to the municipal advisory committee to the Algonquin Land Claim, and he recently attended a meeting updating the committee on the state of negotiations. Bob Lovelace and Randy Cota asked that the township designate an individual they could keep apprised of developments on an ongoing basis to foster communication between the township and the band, and Maguire volunteered to fill that role.

At the previous council meeting on May 25, Maguire told council that at the recent municipal advisory committee meeting, he had been informed that the Algonquin negotiation team was preparing a framework for negotiations to present to the federal and provincial governments in the near future in anticipation of completing an agreement in principle within two years.

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