It is early February, and we have dug out from the rain, snow, and freezing rain cycles of early 2006. And now that Wiarton Willie is predicting an early Spring, a cold snap has reminded us that it ain’t over till it’s over. At least Chandos Lake is getting back up to its normal level.
Property Assessment
If you have not already contested your assessment to MPAC, you still have time. The deadline has been extended to the end of 2006. Send in the Request for Reconsideration form (RforR) and MAKE them look at your situation.
If you haven’t found an error of fact in your property description, you can base your RforR on how the “homogeneous neighbourhood” is not done properly for Chandos Lake. For some reason, MPAC lumps the south half of Chandos Lake Estates with all of Gilmour and South Bays – mixing up large and small lots, private road vs. public road, etc. Same thing is true for West Bay and the north shore.
Many of you have sent letters to MPP Laurie Scott, asking for a review of the Current Value Assessment method of setting property values. WRAFT is trying to show that the CVA policy is unacceptable to many people, not just those on water.
This is an uphill battle, and every letter counts - please write to MPP Laurie Scott (laurie_scott@ontla.ola.org) and air your views.
Taxes
Attention now turns to the North Kawartha budget process. Each department head has developed spending plans for 2006 in close consultation with our CAO, Shannon Hunter. Beginning February 13, Council reviewed each department’s spending estimate.
At this review, Staff and Council tried to keep spending as low as possible while still running the Township properly. Last year, the final budget totaled $3.1 million. As I write this, estimated 2006 spending was in the area of $3.3 million, but Fire equipment and major road projects have not been finalized.
The new Municipal building is an important item in our budget, since it is the largest capital expenditure ever made. I opposed the haste with which this project was pursued, the lack of input from taxpayers, and the risk to the Apsley ambulance base.
In August, Council approved $565K for the building itself, and recently approved another $84K in unplanned cost increases, which I also opposed. Furniture, paving, and landscaping bring the building cost to $720K in total.
Provincial infrastructure grants were $380K last year and $350K in 2006 - all of this money will be needed for the new Municipal Building. If the grants had been spent on already approved infrastructure projects, our taxes would have been lower.
Ambulance Base
Because the ambulance base was located at the new Municipal Building site, it became necessary to find a new location. At the time, there was pressure from Galway-Cavendish-Harvey Township to move the base to Buckhorn.
In the end, it was decided to keep the base in Apsley to maintain backup for Hastings County ambulance service in the north area. Peterborough City and County will each spend $115K and North Kawartha will provide up to $50K to erect the new base, to be located near the Medical Centre.
Barry Rand
Sallyandbarry@aol.com
705-656-1850
