South Frontenac Council - Oct. 29/13

Jeff Green | Oct 30, 2013

by Wilma Kenny and Jeff Green

South Frontenac begins to hammer out budget

The preliminary drafts of the capital budgets for public works and recreation facilities, as well as a report on reserve funds, were presented to a Committee of the Whole meeting of South Frontenac Council on Tuesday night.

Among close to $10 million in proposed spending on public works, $4.48 million is devoted to scheduled road re-paving in line with a 5-year roads plan that Council approved early in 2012.

But Council was more concerned this week with some of the requests coming from the fire department. A new project that came to light when a study was done of the state of repair of the fire halls in the township earlier this year is a $1.4 million cost (to be raised over 2 years) to replace the ageing Perth Road fire hall, and $285,000 is allocated for repairs for the Latimer Road Hall near Inverary.

Rather than budget $1,400,000 for the Perth Road fire hall project, Council asked staff to develop a budget for project planning, costing and blueprints, to be done next year.

Another smaller item attracted some attention. Several members of council questioned the need to replace Fire Chief Rick Chesebrough's 2010 vehicle (which, at his request, does not carry township identification) and currently shows mileage of 306,000 kilometres.

“That seems like incredibly high mileage” said Councillor Ron Vandewal. The replacement cost of the pickup truck is $40,000.

The capital budget for recreation included some additional requests, most concerning the comprehensive $135,000 cost to develop Gilmour Point (in Storrington, near Battersea).

There was general agreement to not do all the Gilmour Point work in 2014, and to start by only completing the parking lot next year at a cost of $50,000.

The budget also includes $50,000 for playground structures.

Councillor McDougall suggested that the township develop a policy regarding playground structures. He suggested that in future the township would provide $10,000 and if the community wanted a more elaborate structure, they would be expected to fund-raise to make up the difference.

In terms of reserve funds, they are expected to drop by about $800,000 over the next year, to stand at just over $13 million by the end of 2014. A reserves policy that has been instituted in the township has established minimum and maximum amounts for various purposes, and the draft budget reflects these targets.

Budget Timeline

At their November 12 Committee of the Whole meeting, Council will receive the draft budget package in its entirety, including the operating and capital budgets, and Saturday Nov. 16 has been set aside for a 9-4 meeting to work on the operating budget. The results of this meeting will be brought back to the Nov. 26 meeting, and Dec 3, 10, and 17 have been set aside for budget debate and passage, if it takes that many sessions.

Sydenham Water - the problem that never goes away

Kevin Riley, manager of the Sydenham water treatment plant, reviewed provincial legislation dealing with operation of municipal waterworks, and the related responsibilities of councillors. He said that the Safe Drinking Water Act, which was developed at least in part in response to the Walkerton crisis, requires councillors and senior staff to stay informed about the legislation and up-to date on the operation of their drinking water system. This is best done through regular reports from operating staff. The municipality must be able to demonstrate they have arranged adequate funding for the ongoing operation and maintenance of the plant, and they should develop an operational plan to be approved by the province. 

Later in the meeting, Treasurer Louise Fragnito reminded Council that the municipal portion of the water plant upgrade ($488,366) was still un-financed. Also, due to increasing operating costs, the existing rate structure is not providing sufficient money for future replacement and improvement costs.

Council discussed a variety of ideas, including drawing from general taxation, working funds or the present water plant reserves, billing the users more, or charging a penalty for non-use.

There was general agreement that it was time to get rid of the un-financed upgrade, and that the system should be user-pay.

“What about all the other villages in the township that are going to need water systems sooner or later? If we use tax money for Sydenham, we’d be opening a big can of worms,” said Mayor Davison. Staff was directed to bring back a proposal that will address this issue.