The Citizen, 2015-02-19, Page 1CitizenTh
e
$1.25 GST included Serving the communities of Blyth and Brussels and northern Huron County Thursday, February 19, 2015
Volume 31 No. 7
BUILDING - Pg. 7
M-T Council on board
with centre renovations
CHARITY - Pg. 6
Blyth native creates the
Lulu Tree to serve Uganda
Publications Mail Agreement No. 40050141 Return Undeliverable Items to North Huron Publishing Company Inc., P.O. Box 152, BRUSSELS, ON N0G 1H0
INSIDE
THIS WEEK:
A snowy Saturday
Saturday was Valentine’s Day in Huron County and there
was plenty to do. Not only was it the universal day of love,
but it was also a long weekend in Ontario thanks to Family
Day and it was also the annual Snowarama in the
area. The Londesborough Lions Club and a number of volunteers
were hard at work in the community hall cooking breakfast, while
outside dozens of snowmobilers, including Sylvia and Yolanda
Vandriel, travelled through the community. (Jasmine deBoer photo)
North Huron calls for 4.1% tax increase
Grants
passed
to board
North Huron Township Council
held a special budget review meeting
on Feb. 9 to present the first draft of
the document.
The draft budget calls for a 4.1 per
cent increase in the levy, more than
twice the approved increase in 2014.
Major increases proposed in the
budget include a 68 per cent increase
in sanitary sewer costs to $1,071,190
due to capital projects such as the
Mill Street-Westmoreland project in
Blyth, a 101 per cent increase in
waterworks to $1,252,122 which
includes major upgrades to the Blyth
water system and a $312,000
transfer to reserves, a 41 per cent
increase in Wingham parks which
include a new tractor, lawn mower,
and signs, and, lastly, a 22 per cent
increase in aquatic programs and
pool costs to $449,824, consisting of
both an increase in costs as well as a
$40,000 capital budget for the
aquatic centre.
In total, revenues in the township
are set to be $601,065 less than what
was brought in 2014 with major
losses being recorded in fire
protection services ($436,054 or
nearly 58 per cent), police costs
($37,382 or nearly 25 per cent),
cemeteries ($26,469 or 33 per cent),
the North Huron Wescast
Community Centre in Wingham
($418,270 or 67 per cent), the Blyth
and District Community Centre
($72,383 or 34 per cent) and
Memorial Hall ($81,079 or 76 per
cent).
Most of those losses, however,
represent grants or transfers that
were for specific projects in 2014.
Losses in the fire protection
services, for example, represent
money being transferred from
reserves for capital costs, such as the
new ladder truck purchased in 2014
by the Fire Department of North
Huron, that aren’t going to be
repeated.
Some revenue items appear lower
because 2014 was a better year than
anticipated and the budget reflects a
worst-case scenario and not a
booming year.
There were many more weddings
and grave openings, for example,
than were expected, with the latter
bringing in $46,775 in 2014, nearly
$20,000 more than was budgeted for
that year at $27,000, a figure which
has remained unchanged in the new
budget.
Major increases in revenue are
forecast to be observed in road
revenue (over 200 per cent growth to
$160,000) primarily from a reserves
transfer, street lighting ($5,616.75 or
1,884 per cent) and parks in
Wingham ($32,440 or 403 per cent)
which is entirely due to a transfer
from reserves for the capital projects
listed above.
During the first budget meeting,
North Huron council and staff
simply went over the budget and
didn’t change anything.
The next budget meeting is
scheduled for Feb. 26 and will likely,
according to Treasurer Donna
White, be followed by subsequent
meetings prior to the budget being
presented to the public in March or
April.
Huron County Council combed
through numerous grant requests at
its Feb. 11 committee of the whole
meeting, referring a number of
requests to its newly-formed
Economic Development Board.
The first request referred to the
board was that of the Emergency
Services Training Centre (ESTC)
for $284,600 over the next three
years.
Treasurer Michael Blumhagen
said he found the funding request to
be informative and fitting with the
county’s mandate and grant
parameters, but felt it was a job for
the board.
He said that at the end of the
proposed grant’s three-year term,
the centre’s business plan shows the
ESTC to be self-sufficient, which
has been a concern with a number of
grant requests received at the county
level.
Chief Administrative Officer
Brenda Orchard said that while the
request could be forwarded to the
board for its consideration, if the
board feels the grant is worthy, the
final approval will still have to come
from council.
Huron East Mayor Bernie
MacLellan said he was concerned
with how many people the centre
was actually bringing into the
county on a regular basis. He said
that while many will be visiting for
one or two days, the proposal only
states that five people will be
The first draft of the Morris-
Turnberry budget, with some minor
modifications, calls for a tax
assessment increase of no more than
2.1 per cent which will, thanks to
increased assessment values, cover a
15 per cent increase in the
municipality’s levy.
In total, the original draft budget
outlines $7,856,681.67 of expenses,
$392,822.64 less than the
municipality actually spent in 2014
and $1,286,528 less than what was
budgeted for the previous year.
During a special budget meeting
held on Feb. 10, councillors
discussed the draft document and
made some minor adjustments to it
before asking Administrator Clerk-
Treasurer Nancy Michie to bring the
budget back to the next special
meeting on Thursday, Feb. 19.
The tax to be collected in 2015
based on land assessment in Morris-
Turnberry increased by 10.38 per
cent over 2014, an increase council
attributed to the changing of how
farmland is being assessed.
Due to the large increase, which
represented a $55,127,354 increase
in assessment, the municipality was
able to maintain a low increase
despite the larger levy.
Councillor John Smuck pointed
out that if it weren’t for increased
Ontario Provincial Police costing
and a reduction in Ontario
Municipal Partnership Funding, the
municipality would have actually
had a decrease in the overall tax rate.
After being told about the increase
in assessment, and looking at the
reserves from 2014 which totalled
$1,093,330, council began looking
at specific lines in the budget and
decided what expenses should stay
and which should go.
RECREATION GRANTS
The recreation budget was the first
issue brought to council to comment
on.
The 2015 draft budget calls for
$114,800 in recreation expenses and
$200 in income. The $200 comes
from audit fees for the Bluevale Hall
and Bluevale Recreation board, two
organizations to which the
municipality in turn have budgeted
$1,000 donations.
The recreation budget is increased
$239.28 from the 2014 actual costs.
Other donations include $40,000
to the North Huron Wescast
Community Complex, a donation
that wasn’t budgeted for in 2014 and
instead held in reserve and
eventually paid out.
The Belmore Community Centre
The Citizen
Celebrating 30 Years
1985~2015
By Denny Scott
The Citizen
M-T budget process to begin
By Denny Scott
The Citizen
Continued on page 20
Continued on page 24
By Shawn Loughlin
The Citizen