South Frontenac Council - Apr. 26/11

Jeff Green | Apr 28, 2011

South Frontenac budget down to the short strokes.

The first incarnation of the 2011 South Frontenac budget called for an increase of over 25% that local ratepayers were going to have to come up with.

However, a decrease of $1.4 million in the roads construction budget, among a number of other cuts, brought the increase to under 5%, but staff and council were concerned that township reserves were getting to dangerously low levels.

When council learned that the amount of taxes to be collected for Frontenac County was going down, they decided to replenish some of the reserve funds. This brought the township increase up to 6.7%, but with the county decrease, the total increase was dropped to 3.65%.

Before finalising the budget, township, Chief Administrator Wayne Orr brought a final budget report to a Committee of the Whole meeting of council this week. In it, Orr pointed to a $600,000 annual payment that the City of Kingston pays to South Frontenac according to an agreement that was part of municipal amalgamation in 1998. That agreement ends in two years, and Orr said it might not be renewed. He proposed putting some money into a reserve fund to help cushion the blow when that revenue stops flowing.

Orr put three options before council. One would leave the total increase at 3.65%; another would raise it to 5% and another would raise it to 5.8%.

Council will decide this week where the rate should end up and the budget will be adopted on May 3.