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Home My WebLink AboutThe Citizen, 2013-11-28, Page 13THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 2013. PAGE 13. Loss of funding concerns Huron East Brussels resident brings her business back home Because of a gradual decrease in Ontario Municipal Partnership Funding (OMPF) Huron East Council is now looking at a $331,100 hole in its 2014 budget. After Huron East lost over $150,000 in OMPF funding in 2013, the first year of the planned four- year cut, municipalities throughout the province have been instructed to expect similar decreases in 2014, 2015 and 2016. At Huron East Council’s Nov. 19 meeting, councillors called the effect of losing funding “devastating” and said it was only going to get more difficult. Treasurer Paula Michiels said her initial action was to circulate a memo to all of the municipality’s department heads, asking them to keep their 2014 budgets in line with their 2013 budget. She told councillors that in order simply to get back to where the municipality was before the $331,000 loss, council would have to raise local taxes by 13 per cent, meaning that any funding for capital projects, inflation or future planning would require an even higher increase in taxes. Huron East Mayor Bernie MacLellan said he had talked to Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne about this issue specifically, suggesting that the blow to municipalities could be softened if the four-year cut could be stretched out to eight years. MacLellan told councillors that he suggested a “year-on, year-off” model that would give municipalities a staggered schedule between a year of cuts and a year of no cuts. While Wynne appeared to be receptive to his idea, MacLellan said, it appears to have not been implemented. MacLellan told councillors that OMPF cuts were simply going to hit Huron East harder because the municipality originally received well over $3 million in funding, more than even Huron County itself. When Councillor Bob Fisher asked his fellow councillors what could be done in the face of these cuts, it was suggested that Huron- Bruce MPP Lisa Thompson could be brought in to argue the point on behalf of lower-tier municipalities. Deputy-Mayor Joe Steffler, however, said he had already brought the issue to Thompson. “Lisa is not very impressed with this, but really, I think this is how it’s going to be for this year,” Steffler said. “We didn’t complain when we were getting more than our fair share.” Councillor David Blaney, however, saw the issue in terms of the big picture, saying that the current model, with further impending cuts, is simply unsustainable. “The reason we got so much of this funding is because of the agricultural land we have,” Blaney said. He said that agricultural land is taxed at 25 cents on the dollar compared to residential land and that OMPF funding was meant to help cover that shortage and encourage municipalities to have agriculturally-zoned land. Councillor Nathan Marshall, however, saw it as another case of council being financially responsible and being punished for it. Municipalities in Huron County lost between $72,800 and $331,000 in this recent round of OMPF cuts, representing a variance of between five per cent of the total funding and 12.6 per cent. After 26 years of running a successful therapy business in Listowel, Sandra Giesbrecht has moved Touchstone Therapies to the former Brussels Public School. The school, which was turned into the Brussels Business and Cultural Centre after the building was closed as part of an amalgamation two years ago, was purchased by Huron East to create space for new commercial ventures. Giesbrecht, who offers darkfield nutritional consultation, biomagnetic therapy, reflexology, polarity and energy balancing, manual lymphatic drainage, craniosacral therapy and deep muscle therapy, said that when it came time to move, the new centre was a perfect fit. While there were several factors, Giesbrecht said moving from Listowel, where she worked out of a home converted into an office, to Brussels was a financial issue. She said that, living in Brussels, the new site, which she was able to customize to her liking, costs her one-third of the cost her former space did and also allows her to walk to work, instead of having to worry about weather. She said that as a member of the community, she of course wasn’t happy when the school closed its doors, but she is happy to be a part of the building still being used. When she first considered moving, her sister suggested looking at the school, however, at that time, she didn’t consider it an option.Some time later, after looking atsome store-front opportunities inBrussels, she decided to look at the school. She walked in on her own, looked around and fell in love with the space she is using now as soon as she saw it. “As soon as I saw the first classroom, I thought, ‘This is it,’” she said. “I took it and then asked if I could remodel it, which I could.” After adding new floors, partitions and cupboards, she said the location had much more of a business feeling than her past location and also has more of a spa feeling, something she had been looking for a long time. She also said there was a peaceful energy in the space that simply wasn’t present at her location in Listowel. “I was looking forward to bringing the business home,” she said. “But I swore I would never do it out of my own home, so this space is perfect.” The renovations started in October and were finished by the end of the month. She started operating at the new location just over a week ago on Nov. 20. As for the work she does, Giesbrecht said her love of learning got her into it, making the business location in a former school a serendipitous one. Originally a nurse by trade, Giesbrecht answered an advertisement in a newspaper in Listowel to be a counsellor. The job, which was with a chiropractor in that area, required going back to school, something she had a great desire todo.“I was willing to do it, to go backto school and learn something new, so I got the job,” she said. Learning the first natural healing art, however, wasn’t enough and seldom is for practitioners according to her. “They really build upon each other,” she said, adding that she has since gone from being a student to being a teacher. She also said that she would be teaching her skills through her space at the school. While the move did cost her approximately 10 per cent of her customers, she said that changing her hours to offer some night-time slots helped her maintain many of them. She also said that, in less than a week, she had started gaining new customers. “I’m usually still booked solid for two weeks in advance,” she said. “So what I lost through travel, I’m gaining back locally.” For more information, contact Giesbrecht at 226-889-5654 or visit Suite 105 at 650 Alexander Street in Brussels. 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