Central Frontenac Council - Dec. 10/13

Jeff Green | Dec 11, 2013

Central Frontenac opts for internet/telephone voting

Central Frontenac was the only township in Frontenac County and vicinity that was still committed to conducting its municipal elections by a postal vote.

That all changed this week, when, at their last meeting of the year, Central Frontenac Council decided to switch to an Internet/telephone voting system.

“For consistency and accessibility reasons, I would be in favour of making the change," said Mayor Janet Gutowski.

Councilor John Purdon wondered if paper voting could be kept as an option, along with the electronic system, but Chief Administrative Officer Larry Donaldson said, “My recommendation is that council think long and hard before trying a hybrid system, even if one is available, because a lot of the advantages of the electronic system disappear when you include paper; certainly the labour cost savings disappear.”

Councilor France Smith said, “I certainly was not a supporter of it in the past but I do feel that it is time that we make this move.”

Council voted to join South Frontenac, Addington Highlands and Tay Valley, who have had the system in place for several elections and are staying with it. North Frontenac will also be trying electronic voting for the first time in 2014.

Oops on HST

Treasurer Michael McGovern apologized to Council as he presented a report that summarised some errors in the way the township calculated its HST remittances.

The first error concerns a shortfall in payments related to insurance premiums, which are one of the holdouts to the provincial sales tax system. This error goes back to 2011, and will cost a total of $23,000.

The second error has to do with the fact that as of November 1, 2012, Central Frontenac reached the benchmark of $50,000 per year in sales, meaning that as of that date the township must charge HST. Since the township was not aware of that and did not start charging, it owes over $4,500 to the Canada Revenue Agency.

While there is no remedy for the insurance costs, which will simply have to be budgeted for, from now on the township will be charging HST on sales of recycling bins, maps, murals, used equipment, scrap metal, hall & other rentals, marriage fees, & solar revenue etc. Waste collection fees are HST exempt.