HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2015-05-14, Page 14PAGE 14. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, MAY 14, 2015.
Huron East approves budget
Council explores North Huron police expansion costs
Left, right, left
The Walton Raceway’s Challenge Course officially opened on Saturday, hosting its first group
of the season, this one from Owen Sound. The course was relocated to Walton from Benmiller
Falls last year and has since seen a number of groups pass through its doors. This group had
to learn to work as a team if they wanted to move forward, literally. (Jasmine deBoer photo)
Huron East Council officially
passed its budget last week at
council’s May 5 public meeting. The
budget includes a net municipal tax
levy increase of 9.8 per cent and an
overall tax increase of 4.91 per cent.
By far, Brussels residents will see
the largest impact on their tax bill. In
Treasurer Paula Michiels’ report, she
said Brussels residents will see an
increase of $39.96 per $100,000 of
assessment over 2014 taxes,
representing an overall increase of
3.92 per cent. Brussels is followed
by Seaforth with a $27.14 increase
(a 2.62 per cent increase),
Tuckersmith with a $20.79 increase
(a 5.55 per cent increase), Grey with
a $13.59 increase (a increase of 5.37
per cent) and McKillop at an
increase of $7.68 (a 6.78 per cent
increase).
She also noted that 2015 water and
sewer rates will remain at 2014
levels throughout Huron East.
Taxation in Huron East, Michiels
said, is broken down quite evenly,
with 40 per cent of the total taxes
collected going to Huron East and
40 per cent going to Huron County,
while the remaining 20 per cent of
the money collected goes to local
education.
In comparing this year’s budget
with the 2014 budget, Michiels told
councillors capital spending will be
far lower in 2015 than it was the
previous year.
In 2014, Huron East spend $3.29
million on capital projects, while
this year, it is anticipated $2.23
million will be spent.
She also said municipal reserve
levels will actually rise slightly from
2014 to 2015, going from a total of
$8.4 million to $8.6 million.
The May 5 presentation of the
budget was the final public step of
the budget process. Council passed
the budget and a bylaw to that effect
will be on the agenda at the May 19
meeting.
Continued from page 1
another option is to look at a contract
with the OPP. The contract would
cost more, but would also give the
municipality the option to request
that bylaws be enforced.
When asked to compare services,
Wingham Police Chief Tim Poole
explained those provided by the
Wingham police differ significantly
from East Wawanosh and Blyth’s
coverage under Article 5.1 with the
OPP, which provides base coverage.
Councillor Ray Hallahan asked
how many officers Poole would need
to provide policing for Blyth and
East Wawanosh.
Poole said that, on top of the
existing five officers, one sergeant
and himself, he would need an
additional three officers.
When asked, Poole said that the
three officers, if they were paid the
highest wage possible, would cost
$225,000, or $85,000 for each
officer annually. He said that the
appearance of every officer in
Wingham on the Huron County
Sunshine List for 2014 was an
anomaly due to an extreme situation
for which North Huron has yet to be
reimbursed.
That cost would be in addition to
the cost of any infrastructure,
vehicles, weapons and other
incidental costs necessary.
“The ideal would be three
officers,” he said. “The big issue is
backup. In Wingham, almost every
officer is a few minutes away any
time of the day. I can be out of bed
and on scene in just a few minutes.
We need people who can be there as
backup quickly.”
Seip reminded Council them that
he wanted direction, not a debate
prior to the full report being
available. He asked what council
wished to do.
Knott suggested that the OPP
costing be dropped and that a motion
be passed asking Poole, through the
Police Services Board, to provide an
analysis of what policing East
Wawanosh and Blyth would cost
through the Wingham Police Force.
However, Seip felt that since the two
documents weren’t inclusive, they
didn’t need to wait.
“When each report is ready, we
can review it, we don’t have to wait,”
he said.
The motion passed with Deputy-
Reeve James Campbell and
Councillors Yolanda Ritesma-
Teeninga, Knott and Seip voted to
have the report prepared while
Vincent, Vodden and Councillor Ray
Hallahan voted against it.
Earlier, Poole had presented his
year-end report for 2014 for the
Wingham Police Service and he
pointed out that the department has a
high clearance rate.
The clearance rate is the number
of calls cleared, or closed, by the
service.
“We were up on calls, just over
four per cent,” he said. “Our
clearance rate also went up to 94.8
per cent [in 2014] from 92.3 per cent
in 2013.”
Poole broke down all of 2014’s
calls, including those discounted as
being unfounded. He also explained
special training that officers in the
deparmtnet currently have and
presented statistics for the
performance of the service.
Of special note, according to
Poole, is the fact that occurrences of
specific crimes had fluctuated, some
dramatically:
• Break and enters were down to
six occurrence from seven in 2013.
•Thefts were down significantly,
dropping from 65 in 2013 to 39.
• Mischief cases continued on a
downward trend having been at 24 in
2012, 18 in 2013 and 16 in 2014.
• Incidents of fraud were down to
11 from 17 in 2013.
•Impaired driving instances were
up to five charges from three.
• Motor vehicle collisions dropped
to 37 from 40.
• Alarms triggered dropped from
76 to 63.
• Drug charges skyrocketed from
eight incidents to 27.
• Assistance calls increased from
148 to 169.
Poole explained, when asked by
Vincent, that the majority of the drug
charges were against individuals in
their late teens, early twenties or
early thirties.
Council accepted Poole’s report
with the only question coming from
Deputy-Clerk Kathy Adams, who
wondered how Poole’s clearance
rate compared to that of other
services.
He explained that Wingham is
consistently in the highest rankings
for communities with a population
under 5,000, but he didn’t have
access to the clearance numbers of
other departments.
Continued from page 1
the five-day event, while a tent that
measures 80 feet by 120 feet would
cost $9,400.
At first, it’s easy to let the costs
scare you, Schlosser said, but tent
costs are exactly the kind of expense
that a grant could assist with.
While planning for the partnership
is still in the very early stages, a
committee has been struck to
oversee the event. Members may be
added in the coming months, but at
the conclusion of the May 6
meeting, committee members were
Schlosser, Dorothy Cummings,
Nicole Noble and Matt Cardiff, who
will be the Society’s president in
2017.
A meeting will be held on
Wednesday, June 3 to go through the
final planning stages for this year’s
fall fair. The Society will then not
meet in July or August.
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Partnership approved
By Shawn Loughlin
The Citizen