Central Frontenac gets clean bill of health from auditors

Special to The News | Apr 29, 2020

Central Frontenac Council held its second virtual meeting Tuesday afternoon to comply with Covid-19 social distancing regulations and received some good news from its auditors.

“There really isn’t anything exciting here,” said Cara Chesney of MNP LLP auditors. “There were no difficulties encountered during the course of our audit procedures, no changes to the initial audit plan and no disagreements or difficulties with management.

“Total reserves are up (and) it’s all good news ’til the end of 2019.”

Coun. Bill MacDonald noted that 51 per cent of 2019 expenditures were under the heading of Transportation and wondered how that measured up with other municipalities.

“You’re high but not in terms of dollars spent,” Chesney said. “Just in terms of your overall pie.

“You’re spending a lot on roads but you have a lot of roads to maintain.”

Budget approved

Council passed its 2020 budget by a vote of 8-1 with Coun. Nicki Gowdy voting against.

Treasurer Michael McGovern said the County levy came in under what had been expected and therefore the overall hit to taxpayers will be less than expected.

“With the County asking for less than we anticipated, the increase works out to 3.1 per cent (on the tax rate) or an increase of $43 per $100,000 of assessment,” he said.

McGovern said the Township not charging interest or penalties on arrears applies to 2020 taxes only, not to previous years in arrears.

“Right now, we’re only about 10 per cent higher on our property tax arrears than we were last year,” he said.

Three things that don’t show up in the budget are amortization expenses, post-employment benefits expenses and solid waste landfill closure and post-closure expenses, he said.

“Effective Jan. 1, 2009, under section 3150 of the Public Sector Accounting Board Handbook,, municipalities are required to record the costs of tangible assets and related amortization expense on their annual financial statements,” he said. “The new accounting standards do no require that budgets be prepared on the same basis.”

He said the municipality has about $3.2 million in such costs and that’s why it’s important to put money into reserves to pay for them one day.

Burn ban

Dep. Mayor Tom Dewey asked that the Township take out a newspaper ad to remind people of the province-wide burn ban on right now.

“I see seasonals returning and lighting their little camp fires,” Dewey said.

“On the weekend, somebody trying to cook some hot doges burned up six acres,” said Mayor Frances Smith. “It’s very dry out there right now.”

Committee of Adjustment

Central Frontenac has tentatively set May 21 as a date for a virtual Committee of Adjustment meeting to clear up any backlog of building approvals.

“Some people have been waiting awhile for their approvals,” CAO Cathy MacMunn said.

MacMunn said Frontenac County has purchased a ZOOM licence for virtual meetings and suggested that’s what they’ll use for the Committee of Adjustment meeting because “it seems to be a little easier to have the public involved.”

She said they ran a trial meeting with the software last week and were satisfied it would work for such a meeting.

Youth month, Doctor’s day

Council passed motions to declare May as Youth Month and to support the local family health teams by observing “Doctor’s Day” May 1 by shining a light at 9 p.m.

Council also passed a motion to participate in the Provincial Day of Action on Litter May 12 in some way.

“I’m already seeing some people out there cleaning up the roadways,” said Mayor Frances Smith. “On May 12 the blackflies will be in full swing.”

Transitory recordings

And for those of you wondering what will happen to the electronic records of Council meetings, Council passed a motion declaring the recordings “transitory” meaning they will be kept until minutes of the meeting are written up and accepted at the next Council meeting. Recordings that had been posted to the website or social media will be taken down.