Huron Expositor, 2015-02-11, Page 22 Huron Expositor • Wednesday, February 11, 2015
CORRECTION
A story in the Jan.
28 edition of the Huron
Expositor contained a
misquote from Coun. Bob
Fisher. During a visit from
University of Waterloo stu-
dents who will be writing
an age -friendly survey for
the municipality of Huron
East, Fisher said, ""When I
moved here in 1978, there
were 70 businesses and
only about 10 were in the
service industry. We now
have about 60 to 65 busi-
nesses and only about 20
are retail." The Expositor re-
grets the error and apolo-
gizes for any inconvenience
it may have caused.
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Huron East draft budget expected
to contain 11 per cent tax hike
Draft to come before council in April
Marco Vigliotti
Huron Expositor
Homeowners in Huron East
could be digging significantly
deeper into their wallets for tax
payments this year, as rising
expenses and provincial funding
cuts further strain already tight
municipal coffers, administrators
say.
Property owners can expect to
see a roughly 11 per cent tax hike
proposed in the municipality's
draft budget this April, treasurer
Paula Michiels told council at its
Feb. 3 meeting, noting that some
departments have yet to submit
their funding requests for the new
year.
Growing costs, including for
policing, and reduced revenue
from the Ontario Municipal Part-
nership Fund (OMPF) means
council needs to make up an
expected 16 per cent shortfall to
maintain funding levels from the
2014 budget, she said.
"(The) budget first draft with an
11 per cent municipal levy
increase...will basically cover the
OMPF funding cut and will try to
absorb the (OPP) policing
increase," Michiels told council.
"However some depaiintents will
have difficulties with that:'
After receiving the draft in April,
it is expected that council will pass
its 2015 budget in May.
Some council members
expressed concerns that another
trim budget would once again
delay funding of necessary repairs
for several municipally maintained
facilities, including the Brussels
Arena.
Coun. Nathan Marshall pressed
his counterparts to allow depart-
ment officials to directly appeal to
them with their funding needs,
warning that council wasn't get-
ting the entire picture of its capital
costs from the draft budget.
Most departments, he said, put
forward budgets to administration
that they believe stood a chance of
being passed by council. However,
they often aren't entirely reflective
of their funding needs, Marshall
said.
As a result, council supported
allowing department heads to sub-
mit to them a comprehensive run-
down of their estimated costs in
advance of the draft budget. Mem-
bers would then be able to com-
pare those requests with what was
included in the draft spending
blueprint prepared by
administration.
Marshall's comments prompted
an extended debate about whether
council needs to begin considering
defunding certain services or facil-
ities, such as one or two of the
municipality's three arenas.
Mayor Bernie MacLellan said
there most likely isn't a need for
the municipality to have three are-
nas, with usage of the rinks by
minor hockey teams falling
significantly.
He cautioned, however, that
deciding which arena to cut off
(The) budget first
draft with an 11 per
cent municipal levy
increase...will
basically cover the
OMPF funding cut
and will try to absorb
the (OPP) policing
increase, however
some departments
will have difficulties
with that.
— Paula Michiels
remained difficult as all communi-
ties had built and operated their
facilities long before amalgama-
tion in 2001.
"We got recreational facilities in
communities that want the facili-
ties but aren't using the facilities as
much as they used to," MacLellan
said. "But who can properly make
the decision to say 'guess what
yours is the one that has to leave?""
Coun. Larry McGrath floated
the concept of cutting back the
number of sidewalks crews would
plow in the wintertime to trim
costs.
"It's a minuscule amount of
money but it's a dollar saved here
and there" he said.
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