| Feb 12, 2014


Frontenac County will be taking more money from ratepayers in 2014 than it did in 2013

It won't be finalized until later this month, but after four sessions, Frontenac County Council is set to vote on a budget that is little changed from the one originally presented to them by Treasurer Marian Vanbruinessen.

In December, Council passed a motion asking for two versions of the 2015 budget, one with a 1% increase, and one with a 1% decrease.

What they received, and this caused some friction, was a budget that included an increase of over 3.5%, with some proposed costs for Council to discuss.

“I'm confused and disappointed by this,” said South Frontenac Mayor Gary Davison. “Maybe I missed something but we asked for 1%. Were there no meetings of senior managers to look for small savings in their budgets?”

“We brought items forward for you to discuss in closed and open session which would have brought that outcome about. You are aware that we started in a bit of a hole because last year $150,000 was taken from reserves to keep the levy down, which is not something that is sustainable as a budgeting practice,” replied Vanbruinessen.

“I suppose it was wishful thinking on our part, but we were hoping that staff could find a way to get the budget to where we wanted it without cutting service,” said North Frontenac Councilor John Inglis.

Among the cuts that Vanbruinessen proposed was the option of turning down a request for an extra $10,000 from Frontenac Transportation Services, but Council left the money in. Another option was to delete $12,700 for an end of term warden's reception; however that was cut to $5,000.

Although the bulk of the proposed cuts, none of which were approved, were discussed in lengthy closed session meetings, it did slip out in open session that one of them was to close the Wolfe Island ambulance base. This did not happen.

As well, sources indicated that downgrading some management staff in the county administration, which would have meant pay cuts for the people in those positions, was also on the table.

Vanbruinessen did find some savings and brought the budget from its initial 3.5% impact to 2.5%. She also said that growth, mostly in South Frontenac, would cover 1.5% of the increase, leaving the final increase at only 1% over growth.

The County budget represents about 20% of property taxation. The county increase is trending lower than the increase in most Frontenac township budgets. Central Frontenac and South Frontenac are both sitting at increases in the range of 5% and North Frontenac is just now starting to look at their 2014 budget. The county rate, at 2.5% along with a flat increase in education taxes, will end up tempering the cost for ratepayers in 2014.

Reserves freed up

While some members of council did not feel they had much success in reining in the 2014 budget, council did get a chance to deal with the state of the county's reserves. Of the 30 reserve funds the county has for various purposes, there are a half a dozen that have become larger than was ever intended. So, at a budget meeting on February 5, Council took some time to look at the reserve.

Based on recommendations from a consultant's report, they cut the working fund reserve to $1.2 million, enough to cover any potential cash flow issues without having to resort to borrowing. This left a pool of $2.7 million, which was parked temporarily in a holding fund. After going through the rest of the reserve funds, that pool now sits at $3.5 million.

Frontenac Islands Mayor Dennis Doyle proposed that $2.7 million be transferred to the local township councils for local projects (roads, bridges, buildings, etc) but this was not supported.

County Warden (and North Frontenac Mayor) Bud Clayton said that the county should look at putting the money towards long-term replacement of capital assets to keep future residents from budget increases as ambulances bases, Fairmount Home and County offices age.

In the end, Councilor John McDougall, who was chairing the budget sessions, suggested that the allocation of the $3.5 million could take place after the budget is completed.

“My suggestion is that that discussion not happen during our budget discussion, our object is to get the budget straightened around,” said McDougall, and council concurred.

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