Townships_budget_pie

Jeff Green | Mar 30, 2006

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Townships get a slice of the budget pie

byJeffGreen

There were some goodies for municipalities in last week’s provincial budget. North Frontenac will receive $76,537, Central Frontenac will receive $193,659, and South Frontenac $697,590. The County of Frontenac will receive $1,037,397. The money is designated for use in road and bridge construction, and since the county does not have any roads and bridges under its purview, most or all of that money could be transferred back to the townships, which could double the amount they can apply to their own projects.

The townships will have a lot of freedom with this money, since it can be applied to their pre-existing capital budgets for road or bridge repair, thus freeing up the money already budgeted for those uses.

“The money is welcome,” said Central Frontenac Mayor Bill MacDonald. North Frontenac Mayor Ron Maguire said his township would be happy to receive any kind of help the province is offering. “As a very small municipality, we always get less than others,” he said, “even though we still have to maintain as many roads and bridges as some larger municipalities.”

Frontenac County Council will decide what to do with the provincial infrastructure money later this spring.

The county is meeting this week in hopes of finalising their 2006 budget, but this new infrastructure money, will not likely be allocated in the budget.

“We will list the

monies in our budget statement but they won’t be used to pay for county expenses. Any decision concerning those monies will be made by the county mayors,” said County Treasurer Marion Vanbruinessen.

Other municipalities in our readership area are receiving infrastructure money from the latest provincial budget. Addington Highlands will receive $102,078, and Lennox and Addington County will receive $1,676,979. Lanark Highlands will receive $203,774, Tay Valley $231,184, and Lanark County $2,267,434.

“Funding will be provided immediately so that high priority projects can get underway as soon as possible in the upcoming construction season,” according to the Ontario Ministry of Finance.