Frontenac County Begins Budget Work

Jeff Green | Oct 04, 2023

Behind the scenes, Frontenac County staff are already hard at work on their 2024 budget, an unusually

large increase in 2023 that approached 5%, the pressure will certainly be on from council members, and the public, for a return to the 2-3 percent range. It is in this context that Frontenac County Council entertains two presentations at their September meeting (September 20).

One of the presenters was Tom Beaubiah, who works with the Cataraqui Region Conservation Authority (CRCA) as manager of the Cataraqui Trail. The trail is partly funded through levies paid by lower tier municipalities within the Cataraqui River watershed, including South Frontenac, and partially through fundraising dollars raised by the Friends of the Cataraqui Trail.

Beaubiah came to Council seeking an annual contribution from Frontenac County, which would be used to help fund infrastructure projects along the trail, mainly bridges.

CRCA recently commissioned a study, which determined that about $900,000 is required within 3 years, for bridges that need replacing sooner than later.

Beaubiah said that for the trail to be sustainable in the long term it needs $160,000 per year in operating funding, and $100,000 for capital projects.

“One piece in that funding puzzle would be a contribution of $25,000 each year from Frontenac County” he said, helping to kick start what he called a regional trail partnership.

The decision about whether to allocate $25,000 for the Cat Trail will be made as part of the budget process next month, but members of council had a few questions.

Deputy Warden Frances Smith wanted to know why neither Smiths Falls, nor Stone Mills Township contribute to trail upkeep at this time, even though the trail passes through their jurisdiction.

Beaubiah explained that because those two jurisdictions are not within the Cataraqui Watershed they do not pay into the CRCA budget, so there is no mechanism currently for them to contribute to the trail.

“Are you planning to go to them as part of this regional partnership?” asked Smith.

“We are still in discussions among ourselves about who to approach and how much to ask for, but we will be working on that over the next year,” he said. “I should say that we get in kind support from both of them already, particularly Stone Mills.”

He also said that South Frontenac may be approached, maybe for $60,000, but not for the 2024 budget.

That piqued the interest of Warden Ron Vandewal, who said “I think when you come to South Frontenac, if you can focus on in-kind support from our public works department instead of money from our budget, it will be easier for us to support it.

Food Policy Council – Ellen Mortfield, a co-chair of the Food Policy Council for Kingston Frontenac, Lennox and Addington (who also runs food programs for Southern Frontenac Community Services, including the Food Bank) came to ask for support for the food security report card, for the region, that the Food Policy Council is developing. The request is for $500, the same amount that Frontenac County contributed last year to the council.

“This might seem like a strange question,” said North Frontenac Mayor Gerry Lichty, “but is $500 enough for you to do what you need to do?”

“I appreciate the question, but we are early on in the development of the report card, so we don't know all the costs, so $500 is our request for this year, at least,” Mortfield responded.

Paramedic Service Delivery Targets to Remain Unchanged

Chief of Paramedic Services, Gale Chevalier presented a report outlining that, because of a number of factors, the response time target for paramedics to arrive on scene has not been met in recent years. The target, which was set in 2018 based on response times during the five previous years, is to arrive on scene, ready to use an AED (automated external defibrillator) within 6 minutes, 48% of the time, and arriving on scene for the most acute triage level, (CTAS1 – patient is severely ill, requires resuscitation) within 8 minutes, 70% of the time.

Chevalier's report said that the best the service has been able to accomplish over the past 5 years, is to arrive within 6 minutes, 38% of the time, for sudden cardiac arrest and within 8 minutes, 64% of the time for CTAS1 calls.

Chevalier also pointed out that the Frontenac numbers are comparable or better than those in other Eastern Ontario jurisdictions.

She presented two options for Council to consider, maintaining the current standards (Option 1) or lowering them to the most recent 5 year average (Option 2).

“I think we are close enough to the standard that we shouldn't just lower it. If we were way below and there was clearly no way we were going to get there, I would agree, but that is not the case here,” said Warden Vandewal, and there was no dissent among the rest of the members of council who were in attendance.

Council endorsed retaining the current target, in the hope that as new resources come on stream. There are efforts underway in the hospital sector to deal with the offload delay issues that tie up paramedics in emergency rooms, when they could be back on the road, and if that happens those 2018 standards may be attainable again.

Communal Services Corporation Next Steps

Council took the next step in establishing a corporation to oversee the financing and management of communal water and sewer systems in Frontenac County, a key element in promoting higher density housing developments in the county.

They established two bodies, one is a founding board of governors for the corporation, which are made up of appointees from each of the four Frontenac townships. The positions will be the mayor or another member of council from each municipality, and the deadline for the appointments is October 21st.

The second body is a technical advisory committee which will be tasked with setting out some of the foundational policies of the corporation. The committee will include appointees with expertise in finance, engineering, land development, etc. The committee will be established by the November County Council meeting, and recruitment is already underway.

Sale of Sharbot Lake KFLAPH Office

In order to sell off the Kingston Frontenac Lennox and Addington Public Health (KFLAPH) office in Sharbot Lake, the agency requires a motion of support from member municipalities. In supporting the motion, Central Frontenac Mayor Frances Smith said that the building, which is located close to the Central Frontenac municipal office, is “a beautiful little house and hopefully we can get a little family in there.”

The motion was carried.