Budget time at the Lake of Bays

This might be an odd place to post my comments on the upcoming Public Meeting for the Lake of Bays Budget, but on the other hand, it is MY blog, and I am a councillor (for Franklin Ward), so why not put it here? After all, if the reader is not from the Township, or doesn't care that the budget is currently hovering around the 10 - 14% increase level, there's no need to read any farther. Get outside and enjoy the day.

The Public Meeting is March 27, at 9.30 a.m., at the Township office. Details can be found on the Township website.

And some of my thoughts can be found in the following post.

This is a very difficult budget year in the Lake of Bays, and there are many items on the table for discussion, so it is important that you attend the Public meeting, or send your comments. There are a great many more issues than whether or not we should be hiring for the position of the Community Co-ordinator this year. All of them will have financial impact.
When we embarked on the Strategic Plan, it was clearly identified that there were projects that were beyond the scope of the Municipality – and community groups were formed to consider some of these and bring forward ideas, suggestions, etc. to the Council for possible implementation. Since the high points of the Vision seemed to be focused on Communication and Fiscal Responsibility, one might reasonably expect that suggestions would need to be affordable, and reasonable, well discussed openly. Indeed, for the group working on Communications, that seems to be the case – this group has already brought forward to Council some well thought through suggestions, for Council to consider along with the Business Plans being developed by each department at the Municipality. Many of their items dovetail well with these business plans. Among these is improved website – total cost $10,000; and increased advertising in the local papers – total cost $29,000 in this year’s budget. Speaking with this group, they have told me that they don’t expect it to all happen in one year, even two, and that they feel that even a $5000 improvement to the website would suffice for this year. Dorset has had one meeting, with an outstanding facilitator, but has yet to work their plan forward to the point where it is ready to bring to Council. Dwight has not yet met, nor has Hillside. However, Dwight has already formed a core group, Dwight Improvement Group, of business owners who are looking at a Master Plan for beautification, public washrooms, etc. This plan exists – it was pulled together for a G8 application – so it is already in place. This group also has grant writing expertise, and is prepared to write their own grants, as they did for the G8 application. Many of the groups have yet to meet.
Councillor Burgess, who was the Council Liaison during the Strat. Plan process, is continuing to act as a liaison point for these committees. At this point, I don’t see the need for a $55,000/year to ‘co-ordinate’ the groups – let them meet, let them talk, let them develop plans from the grass roots up (the way it was intended to work) and let them talk to each other... There is tremendous expertise in our community and much of it is already at the table with these groups. The plans they develop won’t be in this year’s budget – timing will prevent that. There is no reserve of money set aside to finance or match grants for projects that are yet to be determined, so reasonably, these will be developed and considered this year, for implementation in the following year. Or years.
I find it misleading to indicate, as Councillor Casey has done, that the increase in tax is “chump change” (her words) and equivalent to a few cups of coffee. We have already absorbed into the base budget the 8% increase in assessment values. With the very base budget, before the Changes in Service Level, etc. are added in, that would mean that on $100,000 assessment, you would see a decrease of $4.50 on your tax bill. Except for the fact that you would now, with the 8% increase, be paying on $108,000 of assessment, which will most likely absorb most of that right there. At present, following LOBA’s calculation, if all the additional requests are granted, the tax increase would be 14%. That is considerably more than a few cups of coffee.
Yes, the Township only gets .20 out of each dollar, the rest goes to Education and the District, but it still adds up. With all the contemplated service level changes, required items such as legal costs and compliance with accessibility legislation, etc., there is going to be an increase in the budget needs. At this time, we have no money in the budget for gravel, or for a Public Works Reserve – arguably these are important items to our ratepayers, and perhaps this year the money for the Community Co-ordinator position might be better channelled into that.
The Libraries have requested 9 additional hours at each branch for one more person – that would ensure that there are always two staff on hand. Given that the two libraries show that last year they had just over 5000 registered users, and over 2900 people attending library run programs, it can be argued that these buildings are truly the hearts of the community, and are very well used. Perhaps putting $24,000 into extending their hours would be more worthwhile this year than hiring a Co-ordinator.
Councillor Casey has argued that having the Co-ordinator would allow projects to go forward, and she cites the replanting of the Township office property and adding shade trees along Dwight Beach, as well as perhaps finding funding to improve the Dwight rink. Since one of the items for consideration this year is a $500,000 addition to the Township offices to alleviate the crowded working conditions, one must wonder if this would be the right time to landscape that site. Regardless, if the Dwight Improvement Group who are working on a community master plan for Dwight deem tree planting to be desirable, there is nothing to prevent them applying, in partnership with the Parks and Rec Committee, for a grant from – for example – Tree Canada. There is currently $15,000 in the budget ear-marked for ‘exercise equipment’ for Dwight, and $5000 for Trail signage. Perhaps this money would be better directed, this year, to repairs and renovations at the Dwight rink. It is something to consider, and could be easily accomplished without hiring another staff person.
It can be argued that improving the economic attractiveness of our community to attract more jobs, etc. might be better served by improving the roads – there is no money in this year’s budget for gravel, for instance, and a $500,000 debenture is being considered. That would provide gravel for 24 km of roads, and would add @2% to the budget.
We’ve put the fire department on hold with their long-term program to keep the trucks current. Should we be giving more support to the Volunteers who are the first people through the door when there is a medical or fire emergency? Should we be considering how we can better support the Fire Department?
The high assessments, extensive road infrastructure (much in need of work), low labour pool and high taxes in Lake of Bays may have something to do with economic attractiveness and the difficulties therein. Come July 1st, Ontario will have the distinction of being the most highly taxed tourism destination in North America. Tourism remains the most important Economic Driver in Lake of Bays, but the economic climate has not been kind to tourism, anywhere. Many factors have come together to make it a tough time for that economic driver.
Ms. Casey has argued that the high assessments are good, because it increases the value of the investment. That’s true. The value of the investment is realized when the owners sell and move elsewhere. It is not realized by those who want to hold onto the cottages and homes they have held for generations. But the darker side of that is that it attracts people who are Invested in their Investment. They are not Invested in their Community.
Some of the issues are big ticket. Some are pretty much going to be forced on us because of legal or legislative requirements. These ‘hot topics’ are those that are, if you will, above and beyond the budget.
So, yes, please do come to the Public Meeting. We need to hear from as many of you as possible. I don’t feel it is our job as a Council to “sell” the budget to the public – I feel that is our job to listen very carefully to your concerns, and then to make the choices, understanding that we cannot have everything, and we certainly cannot have everything all at once.
There is one other caveat that makes this an interesting year: Council will not meet during June, because of the G8 summit and the expected commotion. After Sept. 1st, because of Elections, it will not be possible for Council to initiate any programs that are not already identified in the budget. It’s called “Lame Duck” council. It’s there to ensure that the existing Council cannot saddle the new incoming Council with unworkable or expensive iniatives. To my mind, we should be spending this year identifying what matters, and then making the recommendations to the incoming Council . We should not be hiring a position that will commence just about the time the Council becomes “lame duck”.
But you may have other ideas. You may be happy with the proposed tax increases. That’s why we need to hear from you.

Nancy Tapley
Councillor, Franklin Ward.