Victor Hesse is a frustrated municipal politician. He served, as the sole council rep, on the septic re-assessment committee for Central Frontenac Council for three years. After submitting a draft plan, then holding public meetings, the committee brought their plan to council for approval in October.

And the plan was rejected.

Two weeks later, Councillor Tom Dewey brought in an alternate proposal that set out a phased-in approach to the assessments, delaying implementation for off-water residents for an extra 5 years, and cut the septic pumpers out of the loop as far as conducing assessments is concerned. The Dewey proposal, which was adopted by Council, enlists Chief Building Official (CBO) Shawn Merriman to design a program and bring it back for consideration.

During the debate on the Dewey proposal, Victor Hesse said it was a plan that was “designed to fail” and in an interview with the News this week, some of the feelings of the moment had cooled, but he still thinks there are major flaws with the direction Council has taken.

“The situation now is that staff is being asked to design a program for waterfront properties first, but that is a mistake. They are not the ones who really should be looked at first. The biggest question mark about environmental impacts is within the hamlets. And the hamlets will not be completed within ten years.”

According to Hesse, the focus on waterfront properties is based on politics. The pressure to come up with a septic plan came mostly from lake associations and waterfront residents, whose main concern is the water quality of the lakes, and the main push back against the program was coming from off-water residents who were concerned about the potential cost of compliance with the program.

“But what is more important than politics is coming up with something that serves the long term interests of all residents, and provides more information and assurance to the township about what is really out there. There is a lot that we don’t know about septic systems in our township,” Hesse said.

The third major concern Hesse has is with cost of assessments. The committee had proposed that septic haulers, of which there are 6 working in the township, would be able to complete the assessments at the same time as they are doing pump outs.

“We contacted the pumpers and 3 were in favour of doing it this way, two were opposed and one was on the fence about it. We asked about what they would charge and they placed it at $25 or $50, except for one who said he would have to charge $100.”

Under the newly adopted proposal, pump-out companies will not be doing assessments. A separate inspector will need to be paid, and the residents are going to be paying directly unless the township steps in.

“Now that the pumpers have been cut out, the only option is to use the Mississippi-Rideau Septic office, and their fee is $130. I don’t think residents will like that,” said Hesse.

John Duchene, who lives on Kennebec Lake and was a citizen member of the committee with Hesse, said that he was also disappointed when the committee’s report was rejected, and he shares Hesse’s concerns with the direction that Council has taken, but he remains hopeful that a plan will emerge that does some good.

“I do think that they have placed all the burden on the Chief Building Official to come up with a plan, after we spent years consulting and gathering information from many sources to come up with the one that has been rejected. I hope they follow through in the end,” he said.

For his part, CBO Merriman said he plans to bring something forward in January, following Council’s direction.

“I’d like to get this started in the spring if Council is willing,” he said.

The Dewey proposal also included the following directive: “Staff be directed to develop a program for low income home owners whereby a list of referred agencies that are available to help with funding for failed systems is regularly maintained, and updated along with a municipal program, whereby staff will investigate and bring forward rules and procedures for a municipal assistance program.

Addington Highlands Council voted to move its meetings to Tuesdays from Mondays at its regular meeting Monday afternoon in Flinton.

The move was made to avoid having to schedule around holiday Mondays and to make it easier for residents to attend, said Dep. Mayor Helen Yanch.

The move will come into effect for the Jan. 2, 2018 meeting and continue for meetings in both Flinton and Denbigh. Meeting times remain 1 p.m. in Flinton. Denbigh meetings are at 1 p.m. for January, February, March, November and December and 7 p.m. for the remainder of the year.

The only comment on the meeting change came from Frontenac News Publisher Jeff Green, who said in an email: “Tuesdays are difficult for us to cover Addington Highlands meetings as it is our production day. We do cover other councils on that day and adding Addington Highlands will make it more of a stress. With the change, we should still be able to cover the Flinton meetings, but the evening meetings and even the afternoon meetings in Denbigh will be an issue.”

“The time of the meetings should be there to serve the community,” said Coun. Tony Fritsch. “I have no issue with Monday or Tuesday.”

Speed device slows traffic
Roads supervisor Brett Reavie told Council that the speed measuring device on the road into Flinton seems to be having the desired effect.

“Comments from neighbours are that people seem to be slowing down,” he said. “Although after awhile, it could lose its effectiveness as people get used to it being there.”

“I want to see how high I can get it,” joked Reeve Henry Hogg.

Hospice services
Carrie Salsbury, community coordinator for The Heart of Hastings Hospice, addressed Council on the plan for extending their services into Addington Highlands and North Frontenac Townships.

“The Local Health Integration Network has asked the Heart of Hastings Hospice to work with agencies in Lennox & Addington and Frontenac Counties to coordinate end-of-life hospice services,” she said. “I have been meeting with health care agencies, community groups, social service agencies and individuals to better understand the needs of the community and to tap into systems, services and communications links that already exist.

Council voted to amend resolution 518-17 passed at the previous special Council meeting. The resolution extended Council’s support for the One Small Town project as presented by Mayor Ron Higgins.

Councillor Wayne Good and Dep. Mayor Fred Perry moved the resolution to exclude support for the electrical generation aspect until details of that particular project are made public.

Good said he and Perry had received an email from a constituent expressing concerns about the project that gave him pause.

Several other councilors appeared to be having second thoughts as well.

“I’d like to modify 518-17,” said Councillor John Inglis. “We weren’t given any technical details or information about financing.

“My concern is when a business comes with a plan, we don’t normally support it by resolution - our support should be identical to the support we’d give to any business venture.”

“How will this corporation be structured?” said Councillor Denis Bedard. “I’m scared to death a project of this nature can mushroom. We spent considerable time on researching wind turbines. We’ve spent no time at all on this.”

Councillor Vernon Hermer was even more concerned, especially when it comes to the involvement of Ubuntu Canada and its international leader/founder Michael Tellinger.

“I think we’ve been misinformed and misled,” Hermer said. “Contributionism is based on a political party in South Africa. I’ve watched hours of videos on this man’s (Tellinger’s) ‘visions’ (and) I find his opinions and themes disturbing and almost offensive.

Higgins said that Tellinger’s thoughts on some matters shouldn’t be used to discredit the One Small Town plan.

In one of his Youtube videos, Tellinger discusses his support for the argument that the earth is flat, which was addressed briefly by Higgins

“He (Tellinger) does have some off-the-wall theories and plans,” Higgins said. “(But) we do have a meeting scheduled to discuss the parameters of C & T (Contribute & Thrive) North Frontenac.

“And it (the electrical generation plan) was not the only way to generate electricity . . . it was the information I had at the time.”

Council voted to continue to contribute $5,400 to Rural Frontenac Community Services to provide youth programs and services to North Frontenac. RFCS director Louise Moody said it actually costs more than $7,000 to provide the services but was only asking for $5,400 and “we’ll get the rest.”

Funding in place for Ompah Hall kitchen reno

In his own words, Rick Morey “asked for $10,000 and came out with $11,500.”

The Ompah Community Association may not need all of it to complete their kitchen renovation plans for the Ompah Hall.

Morey was at North Frontenac Council’s regular meeting last Friday in Ompah to update council on the “1970s-something” kitchen and to ask for funding.

Morey was asking Council for $5,000 to match the Community Association’s contribution to the project. He said the $10,000 budget contains a $1,500 contingency fund.

“We’re probably going to run into safety concerns,” he said.

Corey Klatt, manager of community development, suggested that figure might be low and recommended Council double it.

“Our plan is to not spend $10,000 but to fix up the kitchen,” Morey said.

“And if we have to replace something, it could get expensive,” said Coun. Denis Bedard.

Morey said that one of the reasons he was at Council now was because there was a limited time to take advantage of a discount offer from Ikea. He said he’d taken their plan to local suppliers who couldn’t match Ikea’s deal.

He said that if they bought the cabinets from Ikea, they would get as much as $300 in gift cards.

“We can use the $300 gift cards to pay for knobs and hinges,” said Coun. Wayne Good.

Central Frontenac Council came out of a closed session at its regular meeting Tuesday in Sharbot Lake and immediately introduced a motion to spend $207,509 “to mitigate legislative health and safety risks.”

It was an unusual outcome given the stated reason for the in camera meeting discuss two instances of “personal matters about an identifiable individual, including municipal or local board employees.”

In an interview, Fire Chief Greg Robinson said the $207,509 was mostly for personal protective gear — bunker suits, helmets, gloves and some training for supervisors. He said none of the funding was for breathing apparatus.

The resolution allows for the $207,509 to be taken from reserves suggesting that the equipment is needed immediately.

Mayor Frances Smith said after the meeting that the Township doesn’t have enough gear for its firefighters.

“The legislation says we have to have so many of this and so many of that and we don’t have it,” she said. “In some cases, there’s gear that needs to be replaced.”

She said that they expect there to be some funds left over in this year’s budget but whatever shortfall there is will be made up from reserves and discussed in the 2018 budget deliberations which are scheduled to begin Dec. 18 at 4 p.m. in the District 3 (Oso) Fire Hall.

$200 boot allowance for PW staff

Council agreed to raise the boot allowance for full-time Public Works staff to $200 per employee per year from the current $120 (which was approved in 2015).

“I work in much the same environment they do and $200 doesn’t meet the need for work boots today,” said Coun. Bill MacDonald.

Thake said the anticipated cost of the measure will be $4,400 (an increase of $1,760) and will be included in the 2018 budget.

Elm Tree road construction to begin

Thake also said he expects work on Elm Tree Road culvert to begin shortly. The holdup came when the conservation authority required a larger culvert than what was planned because “Arden is in a low-lying area.” However the larger culvert isn’t a stock size and has to be manufactured individually.

Thake said the asphalt on Elm Tree will be held off until next year to give the gravel bed time to settle.

He said there will likely be traffic disruptions once the actual work begins but school boards (for busing) and emergency services will be notified of such closures, which might be able to be scheduled over the Christmas break.

Accessibility report

Frontenac County Clerk Jannette Amini, who coordinates the County Accessibility Committee, gave Council a progress report.

Specifically in Central Frontenac, in 2017 a seniors housing task force was set up with the direction for allowing seniors who cannot function in their homes to have a place to move that would allow them to stay in Central Frontenac and a fully accessible library was built in Mountain Grove to replace the old inaccessible one.

In 2018, the committee is looking at a crossing on Road 38 at Elizabeth Street, a ramp for the barn at the Parham Fair Grounds, signage for crosswalks, work on the Eagle Lake Dock, designated parking areas at the Parham, Mountain Grove, Piccadilly and Sharbot Lake libraries and community centres and LED stree lights with wifi capability.

South Frontenac Council took time out at their Saturday budget session earlier this month to discuss the Inverary Lake Association’s request for $15,000 to help them develop a lake assessment/management plan.

Although Council has never granted individual lake associations money to do lake studies, several of the larger lake associations have managed, through a combination of fundraising and grants, to complete their own studies. Given the large number of lakes in the Township (who even knows how many? when’s a pond a lake, or vice versa?) awarding one grant could blow the dam, so to speak, leading to a flood of similar requests.

However, there was general consensus that although it was too late for the 2018 budget, Council should consider the possibility of setting up a limited fund similar to the private lane enhancement program, which might encourage lake associations to develop plans for their lakes.

As Councillor Barbeau commented, “We need to line up our ducks first.”

Lovers of ferocious budget debates are likely to be disappointed by South Frontenac’s 2018 budget process.

Although MPAC numbers came in lower than expected — to the tune of needing to cut $44,500 in order to maintain the tax increase Council had mandated, CAO Wayne Orr and Treasurer

Louise Fragnito came into the Saturday morning meeting with a solution already in hand.

A proposed mechanic position for public works and shared with the fire department was budgeted at $41,995.

“I think if we have one full-time competent mechanic, we’re well served,” said Mayor Ron Vandewal. “Plus a lot of the work a second mechanic would do goes to our local garages.

“Why would we take that work away from them?”

Council seemed to agree and Orr suggested they could easily find the other $2,500 to cut.

“So, we’re done,” joked Vandewal.

Not really.

There was a suggestion that the cuts could come from roads projects until they get a roads master plan completed but that didn’t sit well with Coun. John McDougall.

“We should take the Public Works Department’s suggestions on roads,” McDougall said. “I really have problems with people who know nothing about roads sitting around discussing what we should do about roads.

“That really annoys me.”

“There was discussion about a proposal for a skateboard park/splash pad but the splash pad part was nixed outright.

“There are thousands of lakes in our area, what do we need with a splash pad?” said Vandewal.

In all, South Frontenac plans to spend about $550,000 more than it did last year. Overall, the Township expects to raise $19.17 million through taxation, an increase of 3.16% over last year when they raised $18.59 million.

The budget target that Treasurer Fragnito has established over the last few years, with council support, is not actually based on raw budgetary numbers. It takes into account other factors, such as growth (0.74%), which mitigate the impact of the budget on ratepayer.

Fragnito bases her calculations on the average residence in the township, which was valued at $252,000 in 2017, and whose value has risen to $256,000 in 2018. The owner of that home would see a 2% increase in South Frontenac taxes as the result of the 2018 budget, to about $1531.

It is in the context of the impact of the budget that the township sets a 2% target, even though the budget increase, in terms of real numbers, remains at 3.16% year over year.

Local taxation makes up the largest share of tax bills in Frontenac. Frontenac County taxes then added, as are Education taxes, to make the overall levy to ratepayers, which is then divided out to ratepayers on the basis of the assessed value of their property.

This is the final budget for the current South Frontenac Council. The municipal election next October will result in a delayed budget process for 2019.

If 2018 Frontenac County budget were a head of hair, and county council a barber, no one would notice the haircut that was administered last week.

The draft budget set the requisition to the Frontenac Townships at $9.775 million and after a snip of $12,400 dollars the final budget trims that figure to $9.763 million.

Either way the number rounds off to $9.8 million. In percentage terms the requisition increase now sits at 4.4%, down from 4.5%.

Each of the four townships will combine their share of county costs with the amount that they are charged by the Ministry of Education. The County levy in 2017 was $9.35 million.

When they met last week, (November 5) some members of Council had greater ambitions for cuts, but only two cuts were made. The first was the elimination of a $6,000 commitment to an education bursary for foster kids to Family and Children’s Services of Frontenac Lennox and Addington (FACSFLA). The second was to curtail a planned parking lot restoration project at the county office/Fairmount Home by $20,000. Of that $20,000 in savings, only $6,400 came from Frontenac County ratepayers, the rest was to come from the City of Kingston.

The gallery at the meeting was crowded, and the observers were on hand for one reason, to see if the proposed $55,106 annual commitment to the University Hospital Foundation of Kingston would remain in the budget.

In a previous meeting, the proposed commitment, which is set to run for ten years, was supported by 6 of the 8 council members, but the Frontenac News took an editorial position opposing it, and North Frontenac Mayor Ron Higgins used social media to solidify opposition in North Frontenac.

When the matter was raised again at the meeting last week, council members who had expressed lukewarm support or did not speak at all the first time around came out strongly in favour. Councillor Nossal from Frontenac Islands said that for her constituents the hospitals are an essential service and a cause they support.

“This might seem like comparing apples and oranges,” she said, “but on Howe Island we get no benefit from the K&P Trail but our money went towards its construction. Now we are looking for the other townships to come through for the hospital foundation.”

Frontenac Islands Mayor Dennis Doyle and Central Frontenac Mayor Francis Smith both said they thought the commitment was important. Even South Frontenac Mayor Ron Vandewal, who opposed the payment in the first instance, had a change of heart.

“I am not going to support the increase in this budget, let me make that clear,” he said, “but in canvassing my council last night and the community as well, not many people in South Frontenac seem to have a problem giving this money to the hospital foundation, so I will not vote against this item. We need to find savings elsewhere.”

With that, when Ron Higgins moved an amendment to cut the $55,064 from the budget, there was no one to second his motion.

After the hospital foundation supporters left, Ron Vandewal proposed the bursary cut, saying “is anyone here from Children’s Aid as he did so.”

Other cuts that Vandewal floated included trimming a $35,000 expenditure on Economic Development, which did not proceed anywhere.

Vandewal also want council to consider not following through with a 24 hour ambulance to Wolfe Island, which was a decision made two years ago but is still causing a budget increase in 2018 because it has been phased in.

Chief of Paramedic Services Paul Charbonneau was asked if an alternate service model, the use of an Emergency First Response vehicle, staffed by one paramedic, could provide the same level of service on Wolfe Islands a full 24 hour ambulance. Charbonneau said that with contemporary knowledge about emergency calls and medical technology, the First Response Vehicle could provide a high level of service even if it meant transport would have to wait until an ambulance arrived from Kingston via ferry.

Dennis Doyle argued that to shift away from the 24 hour ambulance just as it was about to come about would have negative impact on Wolfe Islanders.

“I am asking Council to provide this service to Wolfe Islanders,” he said. “It is important and if it is abandoned it will bring down property values and that won’t help anyone in Frontenac County.

That was the end of the debate.

The motion to approve the budget and prepare an enacting bylaw for approval on December 20 passed without further changes.

(Note – The final budget estimates for overall expenditures in 2018 are set at $41.3 million, which is unchanged from the draft version. The budget cuts approved last week fall within the rounding error)

At a special committee of the whole meeting Monday afternoon in Sydenham, South Frontenac Council committed in principle to some form of near-future project for seniors housing.

Just exactly what that project will look like other than 12 units with a price tag of around $1 million has yet to be finalized but CAO Wayne Orr expects to have some form of proposal ready for Council’s Dec. 5 meeting.

The reason for the sense of urgency, Orr explained, is that the City of Kingston has indicated that they have funding to support seniors housing but will need “final approvals by December 2018 and a ‘shovel in the ground’ by March 2019.”

Given that there is a municipal election in 2018 and Council could be faced with a ‘lame duck’ situation, a decision has to be made soon in order to make further decisions on financing before Council might not be allowed to make such decisions until after said election.

From the onset of the meeting, Council seemed quite unified in its belief that there is need for more seniors housing and its desire to proceed with with some form of 12-unit plan.

Several councilors were concerned should this be a repeat of McMullen Manor in Verona whereby units intended for seniors ended up being assigned to non-seniors (with challenged clientele) because of not enough seniors to fill the units.

“There’s such a small number of people from South Frontenac needing this,” said Coun. Ron Sleeth. “Are we going to create seniors housing for people outside of South Frontenac?”

“Do we run the risk of loosing control of this (new) facility like we did with McMullen Manor?” said Orr. “No — that was a provincial decision.”

“Will we be tied to Kingston and their wait lists?” said Coun. Alan Revill.

“No, Kingston will simply manage things as a South Frontenac board dictates,” said Orr. “We won’t be tied to their wait lists.”

So, that essentially left two questions — how this would be financed and where would it be built.

As far as financing, rather than take out a mortgage, Orr suggested the Township could “act as its own banker” by financing the project through reserves.

“But, the reserves would have to be paid back with interest (out of rents, subsidies and grants) similar to what we would get for investing the reserves,” Orr said.

The “where” part drew considerably more debate.

Sydenham and Verona would appear to be the frontrunners for such development given that they have the most amenities such as medical facilities, shopping and social opportunities within potential walking distance, ie ‘walkable communities.’ Also, several councilors pointed out potential sites already owned by the Township and the fact that Sydenham has municipal water, making it the front runner.

Not surprisingly, the two representatives from Storrington District, Sleeth and Dep. Mayor Norm Roberts argued for the ‘Inverary Corridor.’

“I’m going to push the Inverary Corridor,” said Roberts. “There is development coming and as far as water goes, I’ve talked to a home in Gananoque who uses a 10,000-gallon tank from which they draw 3,000 gallons a day.”

There was even a brief consideration of Fermoy Hall.

“We do own the building,” said Mayor Ron Vandewal.

“But there’s not much land there,” said Coun. Pat Barr.

Eventually, Vandewal said “we’re not much further along than when we started.”

Orr disagreed.

“We’ve moved from ‘should we do it’ to ‘how do we do it.’” Orr said. “The biggest variable now becomes land.”

Council decided to have Orr return a report with recommendations.

It seems that every time Lennox and Addington County Council considers making changes or upgrades to its ambulance service, the question of whether to keep the Denbigh service up and running comes up.

It happened again last week, at a meeting of Council on November 15. Council is intent on establishing a service in Stone Mills township, and one way to help finance it would be to cut the 12 hour a day service based out of Denbigh.

“I am getting tired of continuing to have to argue that even though there are not a lot of calls to Denbigh, the service is essential because of the distances involved. There are also two provincial highways that meet at Denbigh, 41 and 28,” Hogg said when contacted over the phone after the meeting.”

A motion was passed at an L&A Council meeting last year which instructed staff to look for a location in Denbigh where a permanent base can be constructed, but that has not led anywhere. And when the agenda came out for a discussion about the proposed Stone Mills base, one of the options on the table was cutting the Denbigh service and serving the north from the Northbrook base, which has a 24 hour a day service.

At the meeting last week Council decided to proceed with a new based in Stone Mills, seek a permanent location for the Loyalist base. An in camera session followed, and after that the following motion was passed: that the current ambulance service level be maintained in Denbigh, and that council direct staff to proceed with the purchase of ambulance vehicles as required.”

One of the concerns about the Denbigh service is that the current location for the ambulance is in a rental property.

While the details of the in camera session were not revealed, the minutes from the meeting say that after the in camera, Warden Lowry “reported that Council considered a potential property acquisition in closed session.”

Township float for Northbrook and Denbigh parades

At the Santa Claus parades on December 2 in Northbrook (10 am) and Denbigh (6pm) there may be a new float.

In response to a proposal by Teri Woods, the wife of township road crew member Rodney, council accepted her offer to decorate a trailer for use in both of the parades. Council will also spend $200 for candy, etc. To give out during the parades, and members of council will ride in the parades as they wish.

Council meeting times set to change

In response to a proposal from Councillor Helen Yanch, meetings will be held on Tuesdays starting in January. The first meeting of the month will take place on the first Tuesday of each month at the Flinton Recreation Centre at 1pm, and the second will take place in Denbigh on the 3rd Tuesday of the month. In the months of January to March, November and December, the meeting will take place at 1pm, and from April until October it will take place at 7pm.

Budget article update - Wednesday 6:00 pm

(At their meeting today, Frontenac County Council considered proposals which would have brought their 2018 budget levy down by up to $150,000, but in the end only managed to make the most superficial of cuts to the document.

But pity the poor foster kids!

A 6,000 expenditure to support a scholarship program for foster children in Kingston, Frontenac, Lennox and Addington, was cut from the budget. The impact of the cut was to lower the budget levy by 0.06%. The only other change to the budget that was made by council was to remove another $6,400 from taxation by cutting almost half of the budget for a parking lot restoration project at the county offiuce/Fairmount Home complex.

All in the levy to ratepayers has been reduced from $9.775 million to $9.763 million, a decrease of a little over a tenth of one per cent. The net increase in the levy to ratepayers has been set a 4.4%.

The other potential changes that would have had a greater impact did not have enough support from Council to come to fruition.

A motion to cut the $55,061 contribution to the University Hospital Foundation of Kingston, which was made by North Frontenac Mayor Ron Higgins, did not receive a seconder.

The only major dispute of the morning came when Warden Ron Vandewal proposed that the ambulance that is stationed on Wolfe Island could be replaced with a cheaper option using a single paramedic and a first response vehicle. The transport ambulance would come from Kingston off the soon to be upgraded ferry service. This would save about $100,000 per year, and a portion of those savings would go to Frontenac County ratepayers.

Chief of Paramedic Services Paiul Charbonneau said that the alternative service would be a good fit for Wolfe Islands and would serve the residents as well as the traditional ambulance that has been phased in.

That did not sit well with Frontenac Islands Mayor Dennis Doyle however.

“Just like we voted to support the K&P Trail and Economic Development, I would ask that the county support the residents of Wolfe Island by completing the phase-in of ambulance service that this council started in 2015.”

Council stood with Doyle.

The draft 2018 budget thus remained intact, with the only losers from today’s process being part of a parking lot and a foster child who will not get a scholarship.

Overall spending for Frontenac County, which stood at $41.3 milliom in the draft budget, remains at $41.3 million. The $26,000 decrease in total expenditures (0.06%) falls within the rounding error.

The following was published before the meeting on Wednesday morning, and is based on the content of the draft budget, which as explained above, has remained fundamentally intact in its final incarnation

Perhaps Kelly Pender sky dives on the weekends, but in his working life the Frontenac County Chief Administrative Officer is averse to risk and drama. As far as the annual Frontenac County budget is concerned, he has been preaching from the gospel of predictable, controlled budget increases over time.

This has taken a lot of the drama out of the annual Frontenac County budget process, which was never a riveting spectacle to witness even before Pender took the helm.

This year Frontenac County Council has moved away from the very general; approving the parameters of the budget in conceptual terms in September, to the very specific; looking at individual projects as add-ons to the budget in late October.

This week they received, for the first and likely the last time, a draft budget document. It contains few surprises.

The number that matters in 2018 will be $9,775,000, that’s how much will be levied to the four Frontenac Townships if Council accepts the budget as presented Wednesday morning (This article will be updated on Frontenacnews.ca at that time) The townships will then collect that money from Frontenac County properties.

This projected levy is over $400,000 higher than it was in 2017, an increase of 4.5%.

Most of that increase came about as the result of previous decisions by this Council.

They indicated at their meeting in September that they would like to see an operating budget, including service enhancements, come in at under 1.5%, the figure for the increase in the consumer price index (CPI) for the year as calculated in late August.

Treasurer Susan Brandt, working her first budget as the lead official (she was the Deputy Treasurer until replacing the retired Marion Vanbruinessen earlier this year) followed last year’s practice and added 0.6% to that target, based on figures for the projected increase in property assessment that was provided by the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation.

By keeping the operating budget increase to 1.1% ($104,117), adding 0.89% ($83,550) for new projects, and using $88,000 from reserve funds, the result was a 2% increase. This increase includes a new overnight Personal Support Worker shift at Fairmount Home and a new Human Resources position, as well as $35,000 for the Economic Development Department.

Added to the 2% increase from this year’s process are increases resulting from commitments made earlier in the mandate of this council. The largest of those is 1.78% ($166,7782) for two service enhancements of the Frontenac Paramedic Services, which are being phased in. One is on Wolfe Island, which is now fully funded, and the other is the second of three increases for a new overnight ambulance in Kingston. Another 0.65% ($60,787) is devoted to increase the reserve fund for capital projects, which has been in place for three years now and will continue to effect future budgets.

All together, the increase rounds off to just about 4.5%

Because of the incremental process and the weight of prior commitments, there is little to be decided when the entire package is presented this week. All of the spending increases have been approved in principle at previous meetings, but Council is not bound by those prior decisions.

Based on the discussions that took place earlier, the only item that is at all likely to re-surface is the commitment to provide $55,000 each year for ten year to the University Hospital Foundation of Kingston. That was approved in a vote of 6-3 and may come up for a final vote before the budget is signed, sealed and delivered.

Whether approved with or without amendments, the enacting bylaw for the budget will not be before Council until their meeting on December 20th.

(Frontenac County’s overall spending budget for 2018 will be $41.3 million, up 3% ($1.2 million) from 2017. Most of the money required to deliver Frontenac County Services is provided by the Province of Ontario and the City of Kingston, which provide the lion’s share of funding for the two largest County operations (Fairmount Home and Frontenac Paramedic Services)