South Frontenac budget Set for 2.2% tax increase

Jeff Green | Nov 16, 2016

South Frontenac Council met as a Committee of the Whole on Saturday morning (November 12) to go over the 2017 township budget. Parts of the budget had been brought to committee meetings as far back as early September, but this was the first time the entire package was presented. The budget numbers were no surprise, as the township has embarked on a 10 year budget and infrastructure plan which calls for an increase of 2.2% per year over that time. The biggest structural change in this years budget is a revenue neutral change for the township which will, however, impact some ratepayers.

The township is scrapping a $180 waste management user fee to each household. The revenue that those fees generated (about $1.2 million) will now come from general taxation. What that means for ratepayers is those whose property is valued under the township average of about $250,000 will end up paying more than $180 towards the waste management budget and those who's property is worth less will pay less.

Aside from that change, staff proposed some cuts to the budget to meet the 2.2% target. These include the following cuts: a 35,000 grant for Ken Garrett Park, a $35,000 grant to the Frontenac Community Futures Development Corporation (which was only to be enacted if Frontenac County decided not to support the agency this year), $53,000 in public works staffing costs for a mechanic and a light equipment operator, $50,000 that was to be placed in a reserve fund for the Frontenac Arena, and $6,600 for operating costs for an outdoor movie screen at Harrowsmith Park. The total cuts amounts to a savings of $180,327.

The net result of all those changes is to bring in a budget with an increase in the total levy to ratepayers for township purposes of about $750,000 this year. That increase is covered by new assessment (ie growth) of 0.85% and from the 2.2% average tax increase.

Among other changes that were made to some of the budget proposals that came to Council earlier in the process was a scrapping of the plan to repair and resurface the Sunbury and Westport Roads, multi-million dollar projects that were to be financed through borrowing. $150,000 has remained in the 2017 budget for engineering work on Sunbury Road, which will make it “shovel ready” should a large infrastructure grant become available.

Among major road projects still on the books this year are two large jobs. One is the Harrowsmith intersection upgrade and reconfiguration which will cost over $1.5 million all told, with $1 million of that coming from 2017 taxes. The other is the Bedford Road north of Sydenham which will cost $1 million to upgrade. Another $600,000 will be spent on Green Bay bridge #28, $350,000 on Randy Clark Road, $300,000 on Buck Bay Road, and $250,000 on Bradshaw Road.

The largest project on a township building is a $1 million project at the Storrington Centre, of which $550,000 will come from 2017 taxation and the rest from reserve funds. That project includes accessible washrooms, an updated septic system, parking lot improvements, retrofitting, a kitchen upgrade and space reconfiguration.

At the meeting on Saturday, there were two additional requests for funding that were considered. One came from Mike Nolan of the Tett Park Association. Tett Road runs off of Perth Road near the border with the Township of Rideau Lakes. On behalf of the association, Nolan asked that the road be paved and that streetlights be installed at the junction of Tett and Perth Roads. Council instructed Treasurer Louise Fragnito to put $10,000 in the budget for the street lights but put off the paving project. The other request came from Southern Frontenac Community Services (SFCS), which is looking for $25,000 to help cover some unexpected planning and building department fees from the township related to the new portables the agency has brought on to its Grace Centre site in Sydenham.

“We perceive the cost increases to be the result of major changes required by the Building Department. Many of these changes appear to have lacked clear communication and interpretation of building codes. This has also resulted in major deviations from our original plan,” said SFCS Executive Director David Townsend in a letter to Council.

Council referred the SFSC request to Chief Administrative Officer Wayne Orr, who will be talking to David Townsend about the situation.

The township budget will be on the agenda at the next regular Committee of the Whole meeting on November 22nd . A number of changes will be made based on recommendations from last Saturday's meeting.

The budget is set for adoption on December 3rd .