Refugee support, a building report and property tax adjustments were a few of the items discussed at the Feb. 1 Guelph-Eramosa council meeting.
Refugee support
Council chose to waive the rental fee of Rockmosa Community Centre for a Guelph-Eramosa Refugee Sponsorship Project fundraiser.
“I’m just happy that we obviously own the community centre and we have the opportunity to waive the fee for causes like this,” said councillor Mark Bouwmeester.
The group is comprised of community members, a non-faith-based group and the United Churches of Rockwood, Stone, Berry Hill and Speedside.
“Since we had such a huge support from the community to do this fundraiser we’re requesting that council show their support,” said Susan Frasson.
The April 16 fundraising pasta dinner will help support one Syrian refugee family and will have two seatings.
Frasson also said the group would likely put up a clothesline in the hall for each seating, which will hold envelopes with numbers from one to 141. Attendees can choose to take an envelope and give cash in the amount indicated on the front.
“So it allows children to support and adults and the greatest amount that anyone would be asked to do is $141,” Frasson said. “If each of the clotheslines are empty by the end of the evening that alone will raise over $20,000.”
The group chose to hold the fundraiser at the community centre so it’s accessible to the entire community.
Building department summary
There were 78 new residential units built in the township last year, compared to 53 in 2014.
“The spike in residential has caused a lot more inspections to be completed, so we’ve completed 1,500 compared to about 1,000 in 2014,” chief building official Dan Sharina told council.
The total construction value for 2015 was about $40 million compared to about $55 million in 2014. The decrease is due to the new schools and industrial construction in 2014.
Property tax adjustments
There were 16 applications for property tax adjustments presented to council at a public meeting on Feb. 1.
“Applications can be made for a number of reasons, including the demolition of buildings, fires or gross or manifest assessment errors,” explained director of finance Linda Cheyne.
The total tax adjustment for all 16 applications is $70,865 and is based on an assessment report from the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation.
“A resolution from council must be passed prior to the adjustments being made to the tax accounts,” Cheyne said.
No members of the public spoke in relation to the property tax adjustments at the meeting.
Council passed a resolution approving the property tax adjustments.
