Huron Expositor, 2017-04-26, Page 7Wednesday, April 26, 2017 • Huron Expositor 7
Shaun Gregory
Huron County Municipal Officers' Association president Joe Steffler listens closely at an annual meeting in
Seaforth last week. He told the Expositor that the main topic of discussion was shared services.
Steffler talks about
shared services and
countywide amalgamation
Shaun Gregory
Huron Expositor
At the Huron County Munici-
pal Officers' Association Annual
meeting in Seaforth, the presi-
dent of the HCMOA and deputy
mayor of Huron East, Joe Steffler
said sharing services seemed to
be the most pivotal topic being
articulated.
Out of the 92 registered, 82
showed up dressed to impress at
the Seaforth Legion April 21,
senior management from lower -
tier municipalities, as well as the
County of Huron congregated to
brainstorm ways to make the
region better.
With all the provincial grants
decreasing, Steffler said there is
no other way to move forward as
one, asking nearby constituen-
cies for a helping hand is what
he deems a way out of the "crip-
pling" era for rural
municipalities.
"The costs keep going up, it's
getting to the point where we
can't really do it all on our own,
we have to look at different ways
to do business and that means
looking outside the box and
sharing what we have," stated
Steffler by phone April 22.
Shared services coincide with
"amalgamation," Steffler said
and it's something he considers
to be a step in the right financial
direction for Huron County.
"It's my personal opinion, I'll
always stand by it, amalgama-
tion would be the best way to go,
you would only have one -tier
government," he said while also
adding that lower -tier munici-
palities may not be in favour of
the idea.
"If you can't pay the bills, you
can't keep the roads up and
bridges up, the costs go up, the
grants from provincial govern-
ment go down that equals
lower -tier taxes going up."
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