Time to talk integration for Frontenac Municipalities

Jeff Green | Oct 28, 2020

Early this year, Frontenac County took advantage of provincial grant money to fund a service delivery review for services delivered by the four Frontenac Townships and the upper tier, county level as well.

The review was somewhat secretive. Strategy Corp, an Ottawa based consulting firm, conducted the it

All that was made public in the spring, when the review began, was that the consultants would be identifying 10 initiatives to make service delivery more efficient.

When we requested a preliminary list of those areas in late May, we were told that they would not be identified to the public until the report was tabled, which happened on October 13.

The consultants interviewed politicians and senior staff in the 5 jurisdictions (the 4 townships and Frontenac County) and conducted some very limited public consultation.

The report they came up with outlines potential financial savings, and improvements in efficiency, for each of the township, in ten service areas.

In presenting the report, the consultants talked enhancing and formalising collaboration, some limited integration of services, and improved communication between the different townships and the county.

They discussed about roads departments doing more joint tendering, harmonising bylaws and even proposed that South and Central Frontenac consider creating a single fire department for the two townships.

The consultants pointed out that previous reviews have been done and are gathering dust on a shelf somewhere but they hoped that this one had enough of a practical bent that it would lead to real improvements; better, cheaper service.

At one point during the presentations, North Frontenac Mayor Ron Higgins asked an interesting question - “why did you not consider single tier [one municipality covering the entire region] as an option for Frontenac County?”

The consultant said that the mandate they were given did not include that option.

“We were careful not to colour outside the lines” he said.

The decision not to ask the consultants to look at the amalgamation option is questionable.

Consider a few inconvenient facts about Frontenac County.

Frontenac County has 5 councils, 5 administrations, 5 councils, 5 Chief Administrative Officers, servicing a population of 27,000 people. Strategy Corp, headquartered in Toronto and Ottawa, single tier municipalities serving somewhat larger numbers of people, may indeed have had something to say about that in terms of efficiency, given the chance?

One of the Frontenac townships, is separated from the others by the City of Kingston, which means its residents go to Kingston for work and all of their services.

On top of that, Frontenac County itself is essentially a paper tiger.

The upper tier jurisdiction, Frontenac County, does not deliver any direct services to Frontenac County residents because of the amalgamation order in 1998 which create the current makeup. It’s main service areas, Fairmount Home and Frontenac Paramedic Services, are Kingston based services. At the same time, social services and social housing for Frontenac County residents is run by the City of Kingston.

Perhaps the most daunting problem in the current arrangement, is that among the three mainland townships, the tax rates vary dramatically, leading to inequity.

Central Frontenac has a township tax rate that is 58% higher than the rate in South Frontenac, and the gap is growing every year. Central Frontenac has less money in reserve, and delivers less service to residents that South Frontenac does, because it is so cash strapped. This is quickly becoming an untenable situation.

The North Frontenac rate is 11% higher than the South Frontenac rate, 40% lower than the Central Frontenac rate.

How can we all work together when our townships have such different capacities to deliver services and promote our collective interests?

At the same time, in Frontenac County, we have a lot of potential for population and economic growth.

We have a unique landscape framed by the Frontenac Spur which runs right through the county from Vennachar to Battersea, good farmland in the south, and proximity to urban refugees from Kingston, Toronto and Ottawa.

It is time to redress a system that has been limiting our capacity to truly fend for ourselves in the 20 years since municipal amalgamation in 1998, creating a dysfunctional set of relations that many politicians have worked diligently to improve over the years, with limited success.

At the very least, the conversation about making major changes, instead of tinkering, should happen now, during a period of growth.