Lake of Bays Association -- Heads Up, it's Budget Time

This post won't be pretty. As some of you know, I am the Councillor for Franklin Ward, Township of Lake of Bays.

It's Budget time... and it's ugly. Tomorrow is a Finance and Corporate Services meeting, with our third look at the 2009 Budget.

The Requested Budget for 2009 currently sits at 8.59%.
That's an additional $12.98 on every $100,000 of assessment.

I think that is unacceptably high. From what I'm hearing over the phone, so do many Lake of Bays residents.

But you ain't heard nothin' yet. The projection for 2010 (due to a loss of grant funding) is for a 30.96% increase. And 32.22% in 2011...

When I regained consciousness... I realized that these numbers do not include potential increased costs to staff and manage the new buildings being applied for under the G8 Funding. Such as a $4.5 million Archive; a $2.5 million Tourist Centre adjacent to an expanded and landscaped Township Office. For none of which do we have a viable business plan. Heck not even a non-viable business plan. And yes, I have been harping away at this...

So if you folks are reading this, and you have opinions on your tax dollars in the Lake of Bays, you might want to pencil in the Public Meeting, April 4, at the Township Office, and come to express your feelings.

It's all on the website of the Township