North Frontenac Council Report - August 27

Jeff Green | Sep 04, 2025

Municipal Accommodation Tax (MAT)

Richard Allen brought his preliminary presentation about a proposal to explore options for the establishment of a new tax in Frontenac County municipalities. The tax would be levied on people who stay overnight in the township in rented accommodations.

Allen, the Manager for Economic Development with Frontenac County, said that 80 other municipalities across the province have such a tax in place, including Kingston (5%), Gananoque (4%), Prince Edward County (4%), Belleville (4%) and Brockville (6%) and with approval from Frontenac County Council, Allen is conducting a feasibility study for a MAT in Frontenac County municipalities.

”It is a small levy, usually 4%, added to the cost of stays in hotels, motels, B&Bs, resorts and short-term rentals. Accommodation providers collect the fee,” Allen told Council. Up to 50% of the net proceeds of the tax are retained by the municipality as general revenue, and at least 50% is allocated to tourism promotion.

Allen said that “North Frontenac, and other municipalities across Frontenac County, recognise the role that tourism plays in the local economy, but at budget time when it comes to providing funding to promote tourism, there are so many other immediate priorities for councils to consider. MAT creates a revenue stream for tourism promotion that does not come from property taxes, as the money comes from visitors,” he said.

The decision to set up a MAT program would be made separately by each township. Allen said that because of economies of scale, it would make more sense to administer such a tax on a county level to save each township from setting up their own MAT administration system.

There were a number of questions from members of council. Councillor Hermer asked if this would lead to the creation of a new staff member at the county level. Deputy Mayor Inglis pointed out that North Frontenac does not have a bylaw in place to “license or regulate short term accommodations in the township. In fact we have no way of knowing where they are in the township. Until we do that, this is premature,” he said.

“I have a lot of questions that I won’t ask right now,” said Mayor Gerry Lichty. “It sounds nice, but who administers it, who makes sure that all of the money that is collected is submitted, things like that.”

“Sitting here, it might appear that I am here in defense of this. But this really is at the feasibility stage. We really want to see if this is an opportunity worth pursuing. It could be an opportunity that is worth pursuing later, it could be an opportunity that is worth pursuing now, or it could be that it is not right for Frontenac. But if we don’t have the conversation, we could be leaving money on the table that could be invested in our economy,” said Lichty.

Allen will be making a similar presentation to the other three Frontenac municipalities, and a web page is set up on EngageFrontenac.ca/

Allen expects to report back to Frontenac County Council early in 2026. Council received the presentation for information.

Yes to $10,000 Request For K&P Trail Construction

Richard Allen made a second presentation to Council, regarding a grant application he is the midst of preparing to the Rural Ontario Development Program (RODP) for $150,000 towards a $500,000 project, which will extend the K&P Trail north of road 509, to within a couple of kilometres of the border with Lanark County, where the K&P Trail leaves Frontenac County on its path towards Renfrew. There is $340,000 still available for the project in reserve funds at the county level, and Allen was looking for a $10,000 commitment from North Frontenac, should the grant application be successful. Allen is also working with the local ATV and Snowmobile clubs on the project, and a related bridge project in the same section of trail.

The last time he came to Council on a trail matter, he was asking for a $5,000 commitment towards the section of trail from Clarendon in Central Frontenac, to the Mississippi River in North Frontenac. At that time Council rejected the request for funding but endorsed the grant application. A similar request to Central Frontenac received the same response. With local municipal support, but no money. That application was nonetheless successful and the trail has been upgraded.

“Why are you asking for $10,000 this time,” asked Deputy Mayor Inglis.

“This section of trail is all in North Frontenac,” said Allen.

This time Council was more receptive, perhaps as the result of the successful completion of the first section in the township.

In a 5-2 vote, Council endorsed the proposal and committed $10,000 towards it. Councillors Hermer and Good voted against the motion.

Net Metering Proposal in North Frontenac

Paul Asselin, from the township’s environmental task force, provided a presentation to Council about a proposal to install new solar arrays on township buildings, to be used to supply power back to the provincial grid, in order to reduce electricity charges.

As Asselin explained, the way net metering works, if the amount of energy produced by the panels is greater than the amount used by the buildings where the panels are located, a credit can be applied. That credit needs to be claimed within 12 months.

“Any extra energy created beyond what is used, is of no financial value to the township,” said Asselin.

The project that the task force is proposing that the township consider, is to spend $225,000 on solar arrays to be installed at the township office, and the adjacent fire hall. Depending on a number of factors, the pay back on that investment, taking inflation into account, is between 8 and 15 years of the 25-year lifespan of the panels, and the net savings in electricity cost range widely, from  $370,000 and $1.3 million. 

“When I did these calculations, I was careful to be as pessimistic as possible for the most conservative model. That’s where there is such a range between the conservative and optimistic models. The outcome will be somewhere in between.”

One of the factors impacting the difference between the conservative and optimistic models is the price of power. The average increase in Ontario since 2016 has been 3.8%. Between 2006 and 2015, the average was 7.1%. The conservative calculation is based on a 3% annual increase, and the optimistic is based on an 8% annual increase over that time.

Under either scenario, Asselin’s conclusion is that “controlling one’s own energy cost is becoming increasingly profitable.”

In terms of next steps, the presentation proposed that the matter be sent back to the task force for more detail, and that a report on all of the potential installation costs, including engineering costs, be investigated.

The matter could be back before Council by the time the 2026 budget is being contemplated.

Councillor Hermer expressed scepticism about solar and wind power generation, saying “that’s why the cost of electricity keeps jumping, because of the provincial subsidies for those projects.”

Asselin said that the net metering proposal is not based on any provincial subsidy, it is an investment by the township in energy infrastructure, to limit the net cost of energy that the township will be using over time.

Councillor Huetl asked that the calculations prepared by the task force be looked at by the treasurer.

The presentation was received and the matter will return to Council when the task force has completed further work.

Gravel Point Deferral

The applicants in the Gravel Point development proposal, Craig and Amber Hall, have requested that a decision by Council be deferred until they have a chance to consider all the comments made at the special meeting on August 12. They said they will meet with planning staff in a few weeks.

Councillors Huetl and Regent expressed frustration that the matter is being deferred again, but clerk Tra Mieske said that it is common for requests for deferral from applicants to be respected by municipalities. Councillor Huetl voted in favour of deferral, but Councillor Regent voted against.

Robertsville Mine Site remains an issue for Council.

The property at 15404 Road 509, which was at one time the location of the Robertsville Mine and Processing plant, was included in a tax sale last April, but since there are $250,000 in taxes owing on the site and the tax sale must at least bring in the amount owing, it did not sell.

Clerk Mieske provided the township with a couple of options. One is to lower the cost of the property by 40%, thus taking a loss on the township’s books of $90,000, in the hopes that the property can sell at lower price to recoup the rest of the loss. The second is to look at vesting the property for the township’s use. The first step in that process would be to do an environmental assessment, for $5,200.

There was no appetite among councillors for the potential risks involved in taking on the former industrial site, so the option to lower the price in the hopes of saving part of the $250,000 write off, was approved by Council.

The site has a history, as it was the location of the Robertsville Uranium Protest and Occupation by the Ardoch Algonquin and Shabot Obaadjiwan First Nations in the summer of 2008, between June 24 and mid-October of that year.