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HomeMy WebLinkAboutHuron Expositor, 2015-04-15, Page 3Wednesday, April 15, 2015 • Huron Expositor 3 Huron updateEast toHuron East unveils first Marco Vigliotti official planHuron Expositor draft of 2015 budget Huron East council is weigh- ing changes to its official plan to ensure the comprehensive doc- ument conforms to new provin- cial legislation governing municipal planning. Claire Dodds, Huron County's senior planner, informed coun- cil at its April 7 meeting that the municipality is mandated to implement several changes to the central planning document to make it consistent with the upper -tier government's official plan and the province's 2014 policy statement. The changes, council docu- ments show, touch upon a diverse array of policy areas, including economic develop- ment, agriculture and infrastructure. Some of the most notable adjustments focus on structur- ing development, with the municipality required to revise its policies relating to growth, intensification, affordable hous- ing and servicing, according to an information package on the issue contained in council's agenda. The municipality will also be required to define primary, sec- ondary and tertiary urban areas, as well as update its rules con- cerning development near a known gas deposit and commer- cial scale water taking. The county is proposing that staff begin working immediately on drafting policy and preparing mapping for an update to Huron East's official plan, aiming to have the changes adopted by the municipality's council by Octo- ber 2015, according to a timeta- ble contained in the information package. The updated official plan is to be forwarded to Huron County council for approval by Novem- ber 2015, according to the pro- vided timetable. CORRECTION There was an error in the Sea - forth Agricultural Society's let- ter to the editor on Page 5 in the April 8 edition of the Huron Expositor. The roof repairs were completed by Matt SHORTREED and his crew not Matt SHATNER. The Expositor apolo- gizes for the error. Marco Vigliotti Huron Expositor The first draft of Huron East's 2015 budget contains a 5.4 per cent levy hike and slashes spending by roughly $560,000 compared to last year, as the municipality seeks to offset provincial funding cuts and growing policing costs. Huron East's treasurer, Paula Michiels, presented council with the preliminary $13.35 million spending blueprint at its meeting on Tuesday, where it was met immediately with concerns from members about the long-term sus- tainability of the municipality's finances, namely in regards to the three recreation centres. According to Michiels, Huron East stands to lose about $340,000 in revenue from the Ontario Municipal Partnership Fund, in addition to facing a roughly $82,000 increase in the amount charged by the Ontario Provincial Police for its services. She said the proposed tax hike would provide an additional $329,038 in revenue that should cover most of the funding shortfall, though the policing increase will have to be "absorbed" within the budget. If passed, the tax increase would work out to a $138 to $215 increase for homeowners with the average residential assessment of $166,799. Once again, council members raised concerns with the financial support being provided to the municipality's three recreation centres, all of which are projecting operating deficits in the draft budget. The Seaforth arena is forecasting the largest deficit at just under $39,000, while Brussels expects to come in roughly $14,000 over budget. Meanwhile, the Vanastra Recrea- tion Centre owes its anticipated $25,359 operating deficit to planned repairs to a section of its roof located above the fitness room and men's changing room. Michiels said council would need to increase the municipal levy by a further two per cent - or $70,000 - to cover Vanastra's defi- cit and provide an equitable funding hike to the other facilities. Without additional financial support, the municipality projects the accumulated debt for the recreation centres to climb to roughly $310,000 in 2015. Once again, the Seaforth arena is the largest contributor, with its accu- mulated debt estimated to grow to just shy of $160,000. "What needs to be addressed later in 2015 is how we're going to address the accumulated deficits," Michiels explained to council. Mayor Bernie MacLellan asked why the Seaforth arena was con- tinuing to record such hefty defi- cits after the municipality paid off roughly $100,000 of the facility's debt about three to four years ago. After the payment, he said the arena committee informed the municipality that they would now be able to "toe the line" and bal- ance their books. "They haven't done it yet," MacLellan said. While several councillors had floated ideas for boosting arena revenue at recent meetings, Coun. Ray Chartrand expressed doubt that the facilities would ever be able to significantly improve their fiscal standing with usage continu- ing to fall. "The associated, uncontrollable costs of the arena, like hydro, wages and stuff like that...they keep on going up. But the ice time and usage keeps on going down," he said. "It doesn't seem that it's going ea orthhuronex 1 ositor.co to get better. And I don't think it'll get better in the future." With debate on whether there exists a need for the municipality to have two arenas intensifying in recent months, Chartrand said it might be time to form a committee of "non -biased" members and an outside consultant to complete a full evaluation of what facility should be closed if that was the path council opted for. The proposed committee, he said, would consider a range of fac- tors such as the state of the building, the on-site equipment and location. As part of the belt -tightening to offset the OPP hike and other mounting expenses, the proposed budget defers several planned road projects to 2016, including the $485,000 reconstruction of a section of Seaforth's Sills Street that the municipality's own road asset inventory risk report warns has a "high probability of failure and a very high consequence of failure." It also delays reconstruction work on parts of Church and Franklin streets, both located in Seaforth, which are also included in the highest age -based risk cate- gory in the asset report. The condi- tions on those roadways, however, are "not as bad as those on Sills Street," Michiels said. As well, administration instructed all municipal depart- ments and facilities to submit budgets for 2015 at least year's funding levels. The draft budget actually pro- poses an 11 per cent municipal levy hike, which averages out to a 5.4 per cent total when combined with the already approved 2.3 per cent and one per cent increases to the county and education levies respectively. Council will review and debate the budget at its next meetings. OFFICE HOURS The Office Hours for The Seaforth Huron Expositor are as follows Mondays - 9am - 5pm Tuesdays - CLOSED Wednesdays - 9am - 5pm Thursdays - 9am - 5pm Fridays - 9am - 5pm Seaforth liton Expositor 8 Main Street, Seaforth ON PH: 519-527-0240 www.seaforthhuronexpositor .com