Finding a parking lot for county money

Jeff Green | Jun 26, 2014

Frontenac County Council has developed an obsession with finding a home for $3.5 million in reserve funds that had been accumulating in their working fund reserve, which in the municipal world is the equivalent of a checking account.

Early this year, based on advice from a consultant, the council determined that this money could be put to other uses, and some members of council argued that the money should be simply transferred to the local townships to help cover the cost of road and bridge repairs.

However, at a Committee of the Whole meeting in May, the council decided instead to divvy up almost all of the money into several different pots, for use on future projects.

When those allocations were brought forward to the formal council meeting for ratification a couple of weeks later, some council members objected, arguing that not enough discussion had taken place.

The matter was deferred a month, and during last week's monthly council meeting (June 18) a further Committee of the Whole session was scheduled to tackle the matter.

This time, each of the allocations was discussed and voted on. The result was the same as in May and the decisions will again be sent to the formal council for ratification, this time in July.

CAO Kelly Pender, using the example of the largest pot of money, $1.5 million for seniors’ housing, outlined the kind of financial model that would be required before any of that money would actually be spent.

The proposed reserve allocations are as follows: $1.5 million to seniors’ projects; $100,000 for waste management planning; $500,000 to economic development; $200,000 to capital asset management requirements; $340,000 for capital commitments under cost sharing agreements; $380,000 for Frontenac Renovates (a program to help residents in older homes); $30,000 for land acquisition – trails; $154,000 for future Community Improvement Plans; $100,000 for an energy retrofit project.

While it would seem that the decision of the Committee of the Whole would be replicated at Council since they have the same makeup, a quirk of voting may come into play.

At Council, South Frontenac Mayor Gary Davison has two votes since he represents the most populous township, but he only has one vote at the Committee of the Whole.

Votes at the Committee of the Whole on a couple of the proposals, including the $500,000 for Economic Development, were close and might have been different if Davison had two votes, so the votes might go differently at Council in July.