South Frontenac Council - Feb 3/15

Jeff Green | Feb 04, 2015

Frontenac County at 3.45% increase and South Frontenac at 2%

Frontenac County Council will contemplate a draft budget this week. Three days have been set aside for members of Frontenac County Council to go over the proposed 2015 County budget. The budget includes an increase of 3.45% in the amount to be collected by the lower-tier townships from residents to transfer to the County. According to calculations by the county treasury department, once assessment increases due to growth are factored in, the increase settles in at 2.97%.

The 3.45 % increase was the target for the budget, based on a 2.80% increase in the consumer price index that was calculated by Statistics Canada, in addition to a levy of 0.65% to fund the county's assessment management plan.

In order to reach that number, about $52,000 needs to be transferred from county reserves.

In total, the draft budget calls for Frontenac County ratepayers to pay $8.52 million for county expenditures in 2015, up from $8.27 in 2014.

The overall cost of delivering county services, which are subsidised by the Province of Ontario and the City of Kingston as well as county residents, is projected at $37.5 million.

Pity South Frontenac Mayor Ron Vandewal and Councilor John McDougall.

Once they have undergone three days of county budget meetings they will celebrate by spending Saturday at their own council chamber in Sydenham, going over the South Frontenac budget with their SF Council colleagues. The South Frontenac draft budget, which is available online at Southfrontenac.net, includes an increase of 2% in the amount to be collected from South Frontenac residents.

School Board comes to the table over The Point

Public Works Manager Mark Segsworth brought news from a meeting with officials from the Limestone District School Board concerning the field at the Point Park. According to Segsworth, the school board is willing to play 50% of the cost of repairing the field and 50% of maintenance costs going forward. This was what the township has been looking for. The plan is to close the field after the spring season and spend a year and about $100,000 bringing it up to standard. The likelihood is that the school will make use of Centennial Park for most sports during the 2016-17 school year.